Melissa Alcorn's dream came true when she returned after law school to the foundation for which she worked as a graduate student. Working in the labs at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, she says, made her keenly aware of the "genius and innovation" around her.

 

"Now I am part of protecting the inventions that may someday save millions of lives," said the 35-year-old Alcorn, who manages intellectual property and related contracts.

 

Alcorn also says she is proud to be participating in the formation of a new OMRF spin-off company hoping to bring life-saving therapeutics to otherwise untreatable cancers.

 

"And I look forward to seeing this hope turn into reality," she said.

 

When she's not protecting ideas, Alcorn spends time climbing. She reached the summit of Mt. Baker after what she described as a terrifying trek across the glacier with seracs crashing in the dark void around her.

She also has stood atop Grand Teton, climbed a frozen back-country waterfall in the San Juans of Colorado, and her first lead climb was in the Wichita Mountains.

 

"Anything worth doing is worth doing right, even if it involves shedding some skin and blood," she says.

 

However, she says, her most significant personal achievement is being a part of creating The Mountain School Teen Adventures Inc. where she watched "urban, street-hardened teens giggle at seeing their first fawn or grin ear-to-ear upon reaching the top of our climb."

 

Alcorn received her bachelor's degree in 1994 at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota, her doctorate degree in 2002 at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and her juris doctorate in 2005 at OU School of Law.

 

She serves as a volunteer attorney for Oklahoma Lawyers for Children, a council member for the E.L. Gaylord Downtown YMCA - a place she favors for networking - and a volunteer for Touchstone Inc.