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Melissa Heffner is the Director and Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ. She holds a Master of Music in Music Therapy with a specialization in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Ohio University and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance with a minor in Early Childhood Special Education from Eastern Washington University. Her areas of research interest include collaborating with other healthcare professionals, and her master's thesis study involved collaborating with a speech-language pathology graduate student. She presented at the 2025 Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the Summer Conference at Harlaxton College in Grantham, England, on addressing barriers to music therapy education.

Melissa has been a Music Therapist-Board Certified (MT-BC) since 2013 and has worked with disabled, autistic, neurodivergent, and neurotypical children in clinic and home settings, disabled adults in day facilities, and older adults in assisted living and memory care facilities. She has provided in-person and telehealth music therapy and adapted lessons in piano, guitar, and voice to individuals and groups in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and central and southeastern Ohio.

Prior to joining the faculty at °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ, Melissa was the Director and Clinical Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at the University of Evansville in Evansville, IN, and Adjunct Professor and Music Therapy Clinical Supervisor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She has supervised music therapy interns (Texas) and practicum students (Indiana, Texas, and Ohio) working with children, adults, and older adults in clinic, school, medical, mental health, community support, skilled nursing, and hospice facilities in-person and via telehealth.

Melissa has been a member of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) since 2009 and has been serving on the AMTA Academic Program Approval Committee since 2019.