Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, MBA

Dr. Merlin is a Professor with Tenure in the division of General Internal Medicine and Director of the CHAllenges in Managing and Preventing Pain (CHAMPP) clinical research center. She is a physician and is board certified in internal medicine, infectious diseases, palliative care, and addiction medicine. She is also a PhD-trained behavioral scientist and NIH-funded clinician-investigator. Her large NIH-funded program of research focuses on the intersection of chronic pain and opioid misuse/use disorder across populations of individuals with conditions such as HIV and cancer, and settings including HIV patient-centered medical homes, primary care clinics, opioid treatment programs, and subspeciality settings. To that end, among other NIH-funded studies, she is the MPI of the NIH-funded Tailored Retention and Engagement for Equitable Treatment of Opioid use disorder and Pain (TREETOP) clinical research center, one of four NIH-funded centers focusing on the intersection of pain and opioid use disorder in the US. Her work is widely published in prominent journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Oncology, JAMA Network Open, and the American Journal of Public Health, and she serves as a scientific mentor to many PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty with similar interests. She holds a K24 mid-career mentorship award from the NIH, and was recently awarded the 2022 Society of General Internal Medicine Mid-Career Research Mentorship award and the 2023 Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Director’s Award for Mentorship. She is an active clinician, including as co-director of a palliative care program for individuals with serious illness who also have a substance use disorder. Her scholarship has been recognized nationally with a Sojourn Scholars Leadership Award from the Cambia Health Foundation, and with awards from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, American Pain Society, and Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction.