My visits to see Dr. Merrell & the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center are always a very good experience. Everyone there is very friendly and professional. I get excellent care.
Greg A. Merrell, M.D.
Specialist in treating shoulder, hand, elbow, and wrist injuries and conditions
Support Team
Nurse Practitioner: Mollie Hanlon MS, NP-C, MBA
Medical Assistant: Marko D.
Executive Assistant: Shari C.
Locations
Hours
Monday - Friday: 8am - 5pm
Biography
Greg A. Merrell, MD received his medical degree from Yale University. He continued at Yale for his orthopaedic residency. Dr. Merrell received his fellowship training in upper extremity and microvascular surgery from Brown University.
Dr. Merrell has special interests in wrist arthritis, fracture care, minimally invasive surgery of the elbow and wrist, as well as conditions of the shoulder. His research interests include the study of bone healing. Dr. Merrell won the Marshall Urist American Orthopaedic Association award for his research on bone healing. He has written a number of journal articles and book chapters on minimally invasive treatment of scaphoid fractures. He was the invited author from the Journal of Hand Surgery to describe his minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of tennis elbow. Dr. Merrell served as team physician for the 2002 Search for Genghis Khan Expedition to Mongolia. This expedition was featured on a Discovery Channel documentary. Dr. Merrell has an active research program established.
Dr. Merrell is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hand Surgery.
Patient Stories
More About Dr. Merrell
When did you know you were going to be a healthcare provider? (or why did you select a career in healthcare?)
I worked in business for 6 years prior to going to medical school. I realized I wanted more than a job, I wanted something that was intellectually interesting and emotionally rewarding. I also worked on an ambulance in Denver, lights and sirens at 2am is exciting!
What inspires you about your work?
So many things. The great dedicated team I work with inspires me to be a better human and a better surgeon. The patients, some of whom have very serious injuries are inspiring to see how hard they work after surgery to remake huge gains in the function in their arm (I tell them 1/2 the results are from what I do in surgery and 1/2 are what they achieve through their therapy, it takes a team). Thirdly, hand surgery is a relatively young field which started just after World War 2. We continue to make advances in technique and technology and understanding. I am proud to be a part of those efforts.
How would you describe your approach to patient care?
The arm is connected to a patient…We are treating the arm and supporting the patient in that journey! Also we focus on problems and solutions. Sometimes a patient comes in with an MRI finding or a bump and we have to correlate that with their life…is it a problem that needs solving or do we just need to understand more about the condition we have.
For Fun
Hometown
Boulder, CO
3 words to describe yourself
Humble, kind, thoughtful
Favorite place in the world
Anywhere with family and friends
Favorite vacation
A recent RV trip through the South, fresh fish from the gulf grilled for dinner hours later
Something interesting/unique about you
Went to Mongolia to search for Genghis Khan’s burial…didn’t find him!
What are your hobbies?
Cooking, snowboarding, reading nonfiction
If you had to eat one meal, every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Tacos, because you can put anything in there and make it taste great
Education
Undergrad
Wharton School of Business University of Pennsylvania
Medical School
Yale University School of Medicine
Ortho Residency
Yale Department of Orthopaedics
Hand Surgery Fellowship
Brown University
Awards
- 2018 HAND Journal Award
- A Multicenter Prospective, Randomized Pilot Study of Outcomes for Digital Nerve Repair in the Hand Using Hollow Conduit Compared with processed Allograft Nerve
- 2007 OTA: Assessment of a novel silver antimicrobial coating for orthopaedic trauma hardware
- 2002 OREF: Gata-1 Megakaryocytes: a novel osteoinductive pathway for promoting bony healing in a rat critical sized defect model
- 2002 AOA Marshall Urist Award: Gata-1 Megakaryocytes: a novel osteoinductive pathway for promoting bony healing in a rat critical sized defect model.
Publications
- Bradburn KN, Beleckas CM, Peck KM, Kaplan FT, Merrell GA. Enigmatic and Unusual Cases of Upper Extremity Pain: Mislabeling As Malingerers. J Hand Surg Am. 2020; 45(10):972-976 PMID 32674917.
- Ferikes A, Merrell G. Partial Trapezoid Excision in Thumb CMC Arthroplasty for STT Arthritis: A Cadaveric Study. J Hand Surg Am. 2020;[Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1016/j.jhsa.2019.12.003. PubMed PMID: 32093995.
- Kokmeyer D, Merrell GA, Kleinman W, Baltera RM. The Use of a Vascularized Distal Ulna Autograft for Complex Distal Radius Fracture Nonunions. J Hand Surg Am. 2020;45(2):163.e161-163.e164.
Patents
- Merrell G. Intramedullary Compression Rod U.S. Patent No. 9,622,798 B2. In: United States Patent Office, ed. United States Patent Office: Google Patents, 2017 [PATENT] NO PMID
- Merrell G, Bradley JM. Elbow Antibiotic Spacer Implant. In: Merrell G, and Jeffrey Michael Bradley. “Elbow antibiotic spacer implant.” U.S. Patent No. 9,278,002. 8 Mar. 2016., ed.: Google Patents, 2014
Or, call us directly at (317) 875-9105 or (800) 888-HAND.