Melissa Hilaire

Dr. St. Hilaire’s research is focused on both computational and experimental approaches to understanding the impact of sleep and circadian rhythms on human health and performance. Her current and past work has been focused in the following areas: 1. Studying the effects of the timing, duration, intensity, and wavelength of light exposure on circadian phase resetting, melatonin suppression, and acute alerting effects on performance in humans. 2. Studying the effects of insufficient sleep, including altered durations and patterns of sleep, on human neurobehavioral performance and alertness. 3. Applying machine learning approaches to estimate sleep-loss-related performance impairment from baseline measures of performance. 4. Applying computational approaches to analyze human circadian rhythms in multiple physiological signals (e.g., melatonin, markers of bone metabolism, urinary metabolites) studied under both laboratory conditions and in field-based studies. 5. Developing and refining biomathematical models of sleep, circadian rhythms, and neurobehavioral performance, including individualized predictions of highly variable sleep-wake schedules collected under operational settings. 6. Developing and refining biomathematical models of the effects of light on human circadian pacemaker.

Education

• M.S. Northeastern University (2004 — 2006)
• Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1998 — 2002)
• Bishop Fenwick High School

Companies

• Assistant Professor of Data Science Merrimack College (2022)
• Lecturer of Medicine, Part-time Harvard Medical School (2022)
• Associate Editor SLEEP Advances (2020)
• Editorial Board Member Journal of Pineal Research (2020)
• Assistant Professor Of Medicine Harvard Medical School (2022 — 2022)
• Associate Biostatistician Brigham and Women's Hospital (2015 — 2022)
• Head Teaching Fellow Harvard University (2021 — 2021)
• Instructor in Medicine Harvard Medical School (2015 — 2021)
• Adjunct Instructor Merrimack College (2016 — 2021)