Dr. Niki Munk is Chair and Associate Professor of Health Sciences in Indiana University’s School of Health & Human Sciences in Indianapolis, a non-practicing Kentucky licensed massage therapist, founding steering committee member for the Indiana Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, and one of 13 international Fellows in ARCCIM’s International Complementary Medicine Research Leadership Program. Niki worked as Program Director and instructor for the Lexington Healing Arts Academy (Kentucky) from 2002-2006. Discouraged by accessibility barriers to massage therapy faced by much of the population, she chose research and academia to help bridge the accessibility gap reasoning that stronger evidence for the field will lead to increased routine 3rd party coverage for massage treatment. After completing her doctorate in gerontology from the University of Kentucky in 2011, Niki has developed a robust research career focused on real-world massage therapy for chronic pain and associated factors including emotional well-being, trigger point self-care, and accessibility challenges to massage. Niki’s expertise and interests span several stakeholder domains including that of non-pharmacological treatment clinicians, care provider, and researcher. Niki’s is a Massage Therapy Foundation Trustee since 2018 and focuses her service on massage clinician research engagement and developing the massage field into a sustainable and viable career while improving treatment accessibility and utilization for all people.