Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine

Ericka N. Merriwether, PT, DPT, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Medicine at New York University and Director of the Inclusive and Translational Research in Pain Laboratory (I-TRIP). Her research focuses on identifying targets for culturally responsive, multimodal interventions for chronic widespread pain in adults with higher BMIs. As steps toward achieving that goal, Dr. Merriwether’s current projects examine how biological, psychological, and socioecological drivers of chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain respond to surgical weight loss. This highly interdisciplinary work employs a variety of clinical and translational research methodologies. Her research agenda integrates frameworks grounded in pain neurobiology and the humanities. Examples include pain neurobiological frameworks, diversity science, weight management and obesity neuroscience, intersectionality, and gender and womanist studies.

Dr. Merriwether earned her B.S. in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her D.P.T. from the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, and her Ph.D. in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis. She completed postdoctoral training in pain neuroscience at the University of Iowa.

Dr. Merriwether’s research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Foundation for Physical Therapy, and she has published extensively. She holds national and international leadership roles, including serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) and as the Co-Chair of the Sex, Gender, and Racial Differences in Pain Special Interest Group in the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Dr. Merriwether also has editorial roles as a Board member for several pain journals and as an Associate Editor for a joint special issue on pain disparities and inequities.

Dr. Merriwether lives in New York City, is a proud Chicago native from the Austin Community, and is the mother of two amazing children.

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