Dr Melfi is an archaeologist of the ancient Greek world. She received her education in Classics at the University of Pisa and in Classical Archaeology at the University of Messina. Prior to coming to Oxford, she was a Fellow of the Italian and British Schools of Archaeology in Athens, of the American Academy in Rome and of the Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University. She has worked on surveys and excavations in Greece, Sicily and Albania.

Since 2004, Dr Milena is the assistant curator of the collection of casts of Greek and Roman sculptures at the Ashmolean Museum and teaches Classical archaeology for the Faculty of Classics and New College.