Melissa Sherman Joins Science History Institute’s Board of Directors

The Science History Institute is pleased to welcome Melissa Sherman, PhD as a member of our Board of Directors. She is the CEO of MOBILion Systems, Inc., a leader in separation science innovation and a developer of high-performance analytical instruments used across the pharmaceutical, food testing, and environmental safety industries. She also serves on MOBILion’s board.

Sherman joins a distinguished list of scientists, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs, and other industry professionals from a broad range of organizations that includes Institute president and CEO David Cole and board chair Lewis Gasorek, president of Listowel Inc.

“I am honored to serve on the Science History Institute’s Board of Directors,” says Sherman. “The Institute plays a vital role in preserving and sharing the stories that have shaped scientific progress and innovation. I am proud to contribute to an initiative that safeguards these treasures, ensuring they remain a source of knowledge and inspiration for future discoveries.”

As MOBILion’s founding CEO, Sherman discovered and licensed its proprietary SLIM (Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulation) technology, which integrates with high-resolution mass spectrometry to more easily separate, identify, and analyze the most complex molecules. She established the award-winning company’s headquarters in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania—in the heart of Philadelphia’s biopharmaceutical and medical innovation corridor—and grew a team of 80 employees. She also raised over $100 million in venture capital to take MOBILion from concept to product development and commercialization.

Sherman has more than 25 years of experience as an executive operator in global public and private companies, including DuPont, W. L. Gore & Associates, Kensey Nash, DSM Biomedical, Aïmago, and IP Group. The self-proclaimed “science geek” has a successful track record of building and advancing businesses that are based on high-value, breakthrough science in the fashion apparel, consumer product, and regulated medical product sectors.

She received a BS in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Clare and earned her PhD in polymer science from the University of Akron. Sherman’s numerous honors include UW’s Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award (2023), the Dealmaker of the Year Award from Smart Business Dealmakers (2022), EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2022), and the Women in Leadership Gold Leaf Award from the Society of Professional Women (2021), among others.

Featured image: Bendix MA-2 Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer, 1960s.