Melissa Segal, LCSW

Melissa is the Senior Director for Culture & Well-being for the Duke Health Culture & Well-being Hub. In her role, she develops, coordinates, and facilitates culture and well-being efforts across Duke Health. For example, she launched the Peer Support Volunteer Program (now part of Caring for Each Other); grew the Caring for Each Other Program to span Duke Health; and co-founded and co-facilitated the One Duke Health DEI Leadership Council. She continues to facilitate restorative justice processes and circles; work with entities on culture change and culture improvement; plans and implements the yearly Grief Symposium; and designs and implements trainings in communication, caring for team members, restorative practices, and challenging conversations. She also manages the finances and human resources for the Hub.

Melissa started her career in social work and served in the fields of women’s health, teen parenting, adolescent foster care, geriatrics, and substance use disorders. In those roles, she provided individual, couples, and family counseling and also facilitated a variety of support and educational groups. More recently, she has worked in administration, helping establish and build new initiatives and educational programs in addition to managing daily operations, finances, and human resources. She has served as the Executive Director of a local non-profit, then the Associate Director of a new Duke Initiative, and the Senior Business Manager and Diversity & Inclusion Leader of a School of Medicine basic science department. During her time at Duke, she has created and facilitated myriad sessions across campus on topics such as micro-aggressions, inclusion, white privilege, effective mentoring, well-being, honest communication, and upstander training for diverse groups of faculty, staff, and trainees. In her work, she often uses restorative practices and circles as a way to help people repair harm and move forward productively. Melissa received her Bachelor of Arts from Duke and her Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.

Melissa enjoys walking and hiking, playing board games, creating art, eating chocolate, and spending time with her family, friends, and dogs.