Karla Mejia, MS, ATC, LAT was promoted to her current role as Head Athletic Trainer at New Jersey City University in August of 2017, after spending the 2016-17 year as the program’s assistant athletic trainer. She was also appointed as the athletic department's Senior Woman Administrator prior to the 2023-24 season.
Mejia is just the fourth head athletic trainer at NJCU since 1990 and succeeds Ann Marie Stoebling who held the position the previous 10 years before resigning the summer of 2017. She oversees all sports medicine operations for NJCU athletics, which includes two assistant athletic trainers, a team physician and a team orthopedist. In all, student-athletes in all varsity sports at NJCU are provided with the best in first aid, injury prevention and rehabilitation through the athletic training office. She is also certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association Board of Certification, and licensed by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners. She is CPR/AED certified.
Mejia and her staff provide coverage of all practices and competitions, and work closely with team physicians in the event of injuries, and during pre-participation exams. She oversees all medical care for all NJCU student-athletes, working closely with the New Jersey Sports Medicine Institute. She and her sports medicine staff provide everything from ankle taping to rehabilitation following major surgery. They use the facilities on the main level of the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center for evaluation and rehabilitation and rely on the team doctors for consultation and direction in treating and repairing major injuries. The JMAC sports medicine facility includes electric stimulation, ultrasound machines and hydrocollators.
Mejia originally joined the staff in August 2016 after previously serving as an athletic training intern during the 2014-15 academic year. She also worked for the NJCU Community Rec department as its health director for two years (2015-16).
Mejia is a 2016 graduate of Kean University’s Athletic Training program, minoring in Health Education. She earned induction into Kean’s Lambda Alpha Sigma Honor Society. She also earned her M.S. in Health Administration from New Jersey City University in 2021.
She is a 2012 alumna of Union High School in Union Township, N.J. Her introduction to athletic training came in high school. After being injured as a freshman basketball player, she assisted in her school’s athletic trainer for two years. Raised in Union City before moving to Union, in her free time she enjoys reading poetry, traveling, dancing, trying different ethnic foods and watching sports. She is a former competitive dancer and ballerina.
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