May 12, 1958 - January 30, 2017

Melissa L. Dull, age 58, passed away on January 30, 2017, at her home in Del Cerro after a courageous battle with lung cancer. Melissa was born May 12, 1958, in San Diego and remained within a few miles of her childhood home throughout her life. She was the daughter of the late Glen and late Monica (Pann) Dull. She is survived by her partner, Cameron Cole. Melissa graduated from Patrick Henry High School in San Diego with the class of 1976. She continued on to San Diego State University, earning her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, with minors in Chemistry and Art History, in 1980, and completed her Clinical Laboratory Scientist internship at Grossmont Hospital in 1981. She was a licensed Medical Technologist nationally and in California for 37 years. She went on to work at Rady Children's Hospital, Grossmont Hospital, and a private laboratory before accepting a position, in 1989, with Naval Medical Center San Diego as the mycology and tuberculosis microbiologist, promoting to supervisor within a few years. Melissa found her true calling in teaching, specifically mycology. She loved teaching the infectious disease fellows, medical residents, and advanced laboratory technicians. She touched the lives of so many medical professionals and made countless friends along the way. She encouraged the laboratory technicians to complete their education and get their CLS license. She retired, due to her illness, in 2016, but established The Melissa Dull Fund for the San Diego Clinical Laboratory Scientist (CLS) Training Consortium ("Fund") to encourage future medical laboratory scientists in the profession she loved. Melissa was an incredible person who loved to travel, bask in the sun, and read. She would vacation aboard cruises visiting the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Alaska, and other destinations. Several times each year, she would visit Arizona to seek out her happy place at Cathedral Rock and attend the Tucson gem show. She loved mid-century modern design, southwestern colors, jewelry, art, ice skating, pugs, and the San Diego Chargers. Every person she accepted into her circle became a lifelong friend, no matter how many years or miles existed between each visit. Loyal, honest, headstrong, smart, creative, and interested in the world barely colors the painting that was her life. She inspired people to do things outside their comfort zone and to have a little bit of adventure in their life. Melissa taught all of us things that we never thought we would be interested in, but she possessed a level of excitement that drew us into what she saw was special.