Dr Mert Eray Onen is the founder of the European Fitness and Wellness Academy and the author of Anatomy of the Locomotor System, 2022.
He has taught human anatomy and kinesiology at university level since 2004, delivering these subjects across all departments of the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Kocaeli University, where he remains a member of the teaching staff. He holds a PhD in Sport Health Sciences from Marmara University and an MSc in Coaching Education from Celal Bayar University, where he graduated first in his cohort.
Published work
Alongside Anatomy of the Locomotor System, his books include Doping in Sport, second edition 2014. He is editor and contributing author of Training Physiology, 2026, for which he wrote the chapters on muscle physiology, neuromuscular control, and the peripheral and central mechanisms of exercise-induced fatigue. He has contributed chapters on muscle physiology and fatigue mechanisms to Exercise and Sport Physiology. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, most recently on the effects of massage practice on low back pain and physical fitness.

Teaching in Pilates and movement
In 2011–2012 he delivered the anatomy, kinesiology and exercise physiology curriculum across all International Pilates Federation instructor programmes — Matwork I–II and Reformer I–II — and served as the Federation’s Vice President for Education and Chair of its Education and Science Board. He has taught sports anatomy on Turkish Gymnastics Federation Pilates instructor courses in 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016.
Beyond Pilates, he has delivered anatomy, physiology and nutrition modules on national coaching certification courses across more than fifteen sports, including swimming, athletics, tennis, judo, boxing, handball and bodybuilding. Since 2004 he has been programme coordinator and anatomy lecturer on the massage therapist training courses run jointly by the Turkish Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Ministry of National Education.
In 2025 he received the Best Educator award at the 9th International Achievement and Career Award.

At EFWA
Dr Onen writes and delivers the theoretical modules of EFWA’s programmes, and prepares the anatomical analysis that accompanies every practical demonstration: the joints involved, the movement occurring at each, the muscles producing it, the muscles stabilising isometrically, and the muscles being lengthened.