Dr. Melissa Zielinski is a licensed clinical psychologist, research scientist, and co-founder of the Women’s Justice-Health Alliance (WJHA). As an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Dr. Zielinski directs the Health and the Legal System (HEALS) Lab, which she founded in 2018. She has over a decade of experience exploring the complex relationship between trauma and justice-involvement, with much of her work emphasizing on the specific needs and experiences of women who are incarcerated or otherwise impacted by the legal system. Her main goal is to make therapy for trauma recovery accessible to as many people as possible, and she is particularly committed to supporting healing for justice-involved women. To aid in this goal, she regularly partners with prisons, jails, reentry centers, and specialty courts. Dr. Zielinski has authored 40+ publications on topics relating to justice-involved people’s health, including barriers to healthcare access post-incarceration, perinatal experiences during and following incarceration, and the acceptability of trauma-focused therapy in prisons. She has also been a regular volunteer providing direct services to people within Arkansas’ jails and prisons, and she previously served on the Board of Directors for the Hope Rises Women’s Reentry Center.