Before rejoining USDA, from July 2001 until she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for this position Merrigan served as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston. In 2008 she was an expert consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome.
Merrigan served as Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service from 1999-2001. From 1994-99 she worked as a Senior Analyst for the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, a Washington, DC-based organization which promotes research and education in sustainable agriculture. She was a Senior Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry from 1987-92, where she worked as the Chief Science and Technology Advisor to [then] Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT). During that time she helped develop the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. She worked on pesticide issues as a Special Assistant to the Chief of Regulatory Affairs for the Texas Department of Agriculture, based in Austin, from 1986-87.
Merrigan served on USDA's National Organic Standards Board from 1995-99 and on the Department's Facilities Reform Commission from 1997-99.
Merrigan holds a Ph.D. degree in environmental planning and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Texas, and a B.A. degree from Williams College.
