Melinda Bachini is a 15-year survivor of cholangiocarcinoma. She was treated at the National Cancer Institute with a clinical trial using Adoptive Cell Therapy.

Melinda is married and the mother of six children, grandmother to two, and two more on the way. She is passionate about patient advocacy and uses her experience with previous and current treatments to give great insight into patients participating in clinical trials. She shares her story with as many cancer patients as possible in hopes of giving support to those in need.

Melinda served as a patient advocate for the NCI Hepatobiliary Task Force, the NCI Patient Advocate Steering Committee (PASC) from April 2016 to December 2022. She is a patient advocate for the ECOG-ACRIN GI Committee, ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Advocacy Committee, the NCI Council of Research Advocates, and the NCCN Hepatobiliary Guidelines Panel.