معرفی
Ericka N. Merriwether is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She directs the Inclusive and Translational Research in Pain Laboratory (I-TRIP), focusing on multi-level mechanisms of chronic musculoskeletal pain in adults with higher BMI. Her work integrates basic science, clinical assessment, and biophysical measurement to characterize pain phenotypes.
Dr. Merriwether holds a BSc in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a DPT from the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, and a PhD in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis. Her postdoctoral training was at the University of Iowa’s Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science.
Her research emphasizes racial and weight discrimination’s impact on pain in diverse populations, with NIH-funded studies on post-weight loss pain and non-pharmacological interventions for fibromyalgia. Key areas include pain inequities, obesity-related pain, and the sociocultural determinants of chronic pain.
She serves on the Board of Directors of the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) and holds leadership roles in the International Association for the Study of Pain. Awards include the Gabriel Carras Award and NYU Steinhardt’s Champions of Equity Distinguished Service Award.
Her grants include support from the NIH, Foundation for Physical Therapy, and NYU Steinhardt initiatives. Current projects explore mediators of chronic widespread pain post-weight loss and the role of systemic inflammation in fibromyalgia pain outcomes.
Dr. Merriwether advocates for anti-racist research practices through initiatives like the Antiracism CoaliTION in Pain Research (ACTION-PR), emphasizing equitable study design and cultural competency in pain care.
