Merry is a Research Assistant Professor, with the Feinstein International Center and a Research Assistant Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University.
research interests span two separate but related fields, severe malnutrition and famine. She has had a long-term interest in livelihoods and food security in conflict and post-conflict settings.
As a member of the Feinstein International Center, she has conducted research on famines in Somalia, Sudan, and Gaza in real-time, and resilience and livelihoods in multiple countries in crisis. She is a member of the IPC Famine Review Committee, an panel of international technical experts to evaluate potential IPC Famine classifications. Her other major research interest is the biological effects of severely inadequate diets in famine-like conditions, and kwashiorkor malnutrition in particular.
Although Merry has worked in most regions of the world, her research interests are primarily in Africa around the Great Lakes, and drylands extending from Sudan to Burkina Faso. Merry has more than 20 years of field experience in humanitarian response. She worked with multiple humanitarian agencies, including the International Rescue Committee, GOAL Ireland, Food for the Hungry and World Concern.
Merry holds a B.S. in chemistry from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.B.A. with a concentration in international development from Hope International University, an M.Sc. in food policy and applied nutrition, and a Ph.D. from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts.
