Insights Michelle Chamberlain Bringing together communities old and new

Today, Chamberlain serves as vice president of External Relations at Salk. Alongside other Institute leaders, she oversees all fundraising efforts, communications, community engagement, foundation relations, and stewardship activities.

Finding the right fit

Chamberlain was surrounded by pre-law students, and, though curious, she was unsure about law by the end of her degree. Instead of rushing into law school, she began teaching fifth and sixth grade.

“In classrooms, you learn about motivating others. You learn about a sense of community and how you develop it. You learn how people learn, how people communicate,” recalls Chamberlain.

But after five years, Chamberlain realized her interest in law school remained. So, she recalibrated, then dove headfirst into law school. Aiming to combine her education experience with law, she accepted a full scholarship at Southwestern Law School to pursue a career in policy. However, plans changed after a summer internship at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, the law firm she joined after passing the California bar exam.

“My family calls me the world’s most unhelpful attorney,” laughs Chamberlain. “I was not a litigator—I was on the structured finance team, and I never set foot in a courtroom. I worked with large global private equity firms, helping them make investments and sell companies.”

But she felt education pulling her back.

“I loved the law. It was challenging and fast-paced. But for me, it felt a little too attenuated from the real challenges of the world,” says Chamberlain. “We had a client at the time, a wonderful man named Robert Day, who happened to graduate from Claremont McKenna College. One thing led to another, and I ended up leaving the law firm to join what is now known as the Robert Day Scholars Program at Claremont McKenna College.”

Over the next 17 years, Chamberlain grew and outgrew multiple roles, eventually landing as the vice president of advancement and student opportunities and dean of the Robert Day Scholars program (it was a very long title that represented years of collecting responsibilities, she says). And all the while, she led the first billion-dollar campaign in liberal arts college history.

After nearly two decades, Chamberlain took stock of her surroundings—the record-breaking campaign had ended, Day had passed away, and the president she’d worked with for more than a decade was set to retire. For Chamberlain, “it seemed like that was the moment to make the move.”

Champion of science

“Cancer has been a huge component, unfortunately, of my family’s history and experience. My grandmother had ovarian cancer. My aunt and my mother have both had breast cancer. I lost a cousin to lung cancer,” says Chamberlain. “When I began thinking of leaving Claremont McKenna, I wanted to go somewhere where I could put down similar roots, where I could invest in the community. I was looking for another 17-year run like I had at Claremont.”

Chamberlain joined the Salk Institute in April 2025, inspired not only by the world-class cancer research and 50-year-old National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, but by Salk’s ethos. “The openness of our research, the nonproprietary nature of our findings—it’s very special and necessary to advance science.”

“The foundational science that we are doing now is going to touch the lives of every single one of us,” says Chamberlain. “And that is what this world needs. I find that the work being done here is truly the work that we need to accelerate.”

With teaching and management skills from the classroom, analytical and communication skills from law, and planning and fundraising skills from higher education, Chamberlain is uniquely positioned to champion Salk science.