Alma Merians Retires, Leaving Legacy of Innovation, Leadership, and Care

After more than 40 years at Rutgers School of Health Professions, Associate Dean Alma Merians, PT, Ph.D., F.A.P.T.A is retiring, leaving behind a legacy that has shaped generations of students, advanced the science of rehabilitation, and transformed the lives of an untold number of patients.

A distinguished professor, researcher, educator, and administrator, Merians helped redefine what was possible in neurological rehabilitation. Long before virtual reality and robotics became common tools in health care, she recognized their potential to help people recovering from stroke and other neurological conditions regain movement and independence.

Her groundbreaking research integrating robotics, virtual reality, and interactive gaming into rehabilitation helped establish an entirely new direction in motor recovery. Collaborating with engineers and rehabilitation scientists, Merians demonstrated how emerging technologies could be used to retrain the brain and boost upper-extremity function following stroke, improving a patient’s ability to resume such everyday tasks as eating and dressing themselves. Her work has been published in leading journals, cited thousands of times by researchers around the world, and helped pave the way for technologies now used in clinics and homes.

Yet colleagues say her impact extends far beyond her research accomplishments.

Over four decades at Rutgers, Merians served in nearly every leadership role—faculty member, program director, department chair, associate dean, and interim dean. During her 18 years leading the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences, she oversaw extraordinary growth, expanding the faculty from five members to more than three dozen and helping launch new programs in occupational therapy and speech-language pathology.

She also founded Newark Therapy Services, bringing much-needed occupational and physical therapy services to children in Newark public schools, reflecting a commitment to ensuring that academic excellence translated into meaningful community impact.

As a champion of interprofessional education, Merians worked to create opportunities for students from different health professions to learn together, including developing a course that uses gaming to teach students how to work across disciplines to deliver better care. Her efforts strengthened collaboration across the school and prepared graduates to work effectively as members of health care teams.

Her contributions have been recognized with some of the profession’s highest honors, including being named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association, an award reserved for individuals whose work has significantly advanced the field of physical therapy. In 2025, Rutgers School of Health Professions selected her as its gonfalonier honoree in recognition of her transformative contributions to the school and the health professions.

Throughout her career, Merians remained an educator at heart. She has described creating an environment where faculty and students could thrive as one of her most important responsibilities. The many faculty members she mentored, leaders she helped develop, and students she inspired stand as a testament to that commitment.

Professor Nancy Kirsch, department chair and a long-time colleague, recalls a rock that sat on Merians’ desk for as long as she has known her.

“That rock symbolized an impediment that could potentially get in the way of progress, whether it was the personal progress and development of a faculty member or student, or an organizational impediment. To her it was temporary and something to be resolved. She is a problem-solver and a doer,” said Kirsch.

“Alma recognizes in others the talents and skills they would not have discovered without her wisdom and guidance. Her distinguished career is truly one that can be described as a mentor to many. Her sphere of influence on Rutgers, the profession of physical therapy, and, as a result, thousands of patients and their families can only be measured by the long-lasting legacy that is Alma Merians.”

As she retires, the programs she built, the discoveries she advanced, and the lives she touched continue to shape Rutgers and the rehabilitation profession.