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“Running Towards the Fire”: A Conversation with Jessica Merlin

Jamie Moffa


13 September 2024


PRF Interviews

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Five early-career pain researchers participated in the PRF-NAPS Correspondents program during the 2024 North American Pain School, which took place 23-28 June in Montebello, Québec City, Canada. The Correspondents program is a unique science communication training program that provides participants with knowledge and skills needed to communicate science effectively to a wide range of pain researchers, patients, and the greater public. 

In this episode of the IASP-PRF Podcast, PRF Correspondent Jamie Moffa spoke with Jessica Merlin – a clinical pain researcher focusing on the intersection of chronic pain and opioid misuse/use disorder across populations and settings. During their wide-ranging conversation, Merlin detailed her nonlinear career path, her beginnings in research in chronic pain of HIV patients, and her current passion of providing palliative care in addiction treatment settings.

Podcast participants include:

  • Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Jamie Moffa, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, is a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA. Merlin is a prolific pain researcher who has authored more than 110 original, peer-reviewed articles addressing pain management in populations with substance misuse/use disorder. 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.

Jamie Moffa is a graduate student researcher based out of St. Louis, Missouri, USA who also hosts a science communication podcast, “In Plain English”. You can find them on X at @thatbrass.

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