C. Meghan McMurtry is a Professor in Psychology at the University of Guelph, director of the Pediatric Pain, Health, and Communication Lab, and a Clinical and Health Psychologist with the Pediatric Chronic Pain Program at McMaster Children’s Hospital. She is an Adjunct Research Professor in Paediatrics at Western University and an Associate Scientist at the Children’s Health Research Institute.

Dr. McMurtry’s research and clinical interests focus on acute and chronic pain, medical procedure-related fear, as well as communication and family influences in these contexts. Author of >100 peer reviewed publications and op-ed pieces in media outlets including the New York Times and the Globe and Mail, her research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Genome Canada, among others.

Dr. McMurtry was the Co-Principal Investigator and an Evidence Lead on the national Help Eliminate Pain in Kids and Adults Team which created two clinical practice guidelines regarding vaccination pain and needle fear management; aspects from the pain management guideline were endorsed for vaccinations worldwide by the World Health Organization (WHO). She is a member of the CARDTM scientific team; the CARD framework makes the pain management guideline actionable.

Dr. McMurtry was the sole psychologist on the small subcommittee for the WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety tasked with creating guidance on immunization stress-related responses. She also served as the sole psychologist on the 25 person Guideline Development Group representing 17 countries for the WHO’s Guideline for the Management of Chronic Pain in Children.

Keywords: Pediatric psychology, pediatric procedural pain and fear, parent-child interactions, chronic pain, family influences on children's pain, evidence-based treatment of pediatric procedural pain and needle fear, and training in health.