General Info

Dr. Melker was born in the Bronx, New York and after a brief period in California, his family relocated to Gainesville when he was only four years old. His Gainesville roots run deep, having attended Brentwood, Glen Springs Elementary, Fort Clarke Middle School and Buchholz High School. Former classmates and hometown friends and their multigenerational families make up a significant portion of Dr. Melker’s practice. Dr. Melker left Gainesville for his undergraduate years, attending Amherst College in Massachusetts, consistently ranked as one of the top small liberal arts colleges in the United States. There he received his Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Biology and was a Phi Beta Kappa Junior Year Inductee, a distinction awarded to only the top 5% of his graduating class. After four years in the cold, Dr. Melker was happy to return to sunny Gainesville to attend the University of Florida College of Medicine. Throughout his four years of medical school, he was recognized with several distinctions including the Michael H. Ross Award, the Scott Gross, M.D. Memorial Pathology Award, the Medical Guild Scholarship for Academic Excellence twice, and the Senior Professional Development Scholarship for academic merit. In his last year of medical school, he received the George Singleton Honorary Award for “the most promising graduate entering the field of Otolaryngology.” He was an Alpha Omega Alpha Junior Inductee and the highest ranking graduate in his medical school class. He continued his education at the University of Florida and during his General Surgery internship was recognized by his fellow Surgery housestaff and faculty as the outstanding surgical intern of the year with the Ray Beirstedt Memorial Award. During his four year residency which followed in Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Florida, Dr. Melker continued to receive accolades including recognition as the outstanding resident teacher by the director of the M