Merz, Jon F. 1956- (Jon Frederick Merz)

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Merz, Jon F. 1956- (Jon Frederick Merz)

PERSONAL:

Born March, 1956, in Bayshore, NY; son of Frederick Robert and Josephine Merz. Education: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, B.S., 1978; University of North Florida, M.B.A., 1983; Duquesne University School of Law, J.D., 1987; Carnegie Mellon University, Ph.D., 1991.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Philadelphia, PA. Office—Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Market St., Ste. 320, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

EDS Nuclear/Impell Corp., Melville, NY, former engineer; Westinghouse Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, engineer, 1981-85, contracts specialist, 1985-87, attorney, 1987-88; admitted to the Bar of Pennsylvania, 1987; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, research fellow, 1991-92; RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, policy analyst, 1992-95; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1995—, became associate professor. Manager of the IRB Forum online, 2003—. Affiliated with national committees, including the National Cancer Institute, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer.

MEMBER:

American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, American Bar Association.

WRITINGS:

(With Karen F. Greif) Current Controversies in the Biological Sciences: Case Studies of Policy Challenges from New Technologies, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals and journals, including Science, Nature, Social Science & Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, Science and Engineering Ethics, Accountability in Research, Journal of Behavioral Science and Law, Journal of Law and Medical Ethics, Journal of Legal Medicine, Risk, Journal of Products and Toxics Liability, Journal of the American Geriatric Society, Journal of Investigative Medicine, Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Medical Care, American Journal of Kidney Disease, Journal of Bioethics, and American Journal of Human Genetics.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jon F. Merz is an attorney and educator whose research interests include research ethics, privacy and confidentiality, genetics, informed consent, gene patenting, and reproductive rights. According to his profile at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics Web site, Merz is affiliated with the Department of Medical Ethics in the School of Medicine, the Center for Bioethics, and the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Merz teaches medical ethics and has taught science and engineering ethics in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Before coming to the University of Pennsylvania, he was a policy analyst for the RAND Corporation, and while in California, he also served on the ethics committee at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research was in the area of environmental liability linked to the use of products, medical informed consent, and the implications and use of the civil justice system in the creation of social policy and in the enforcement of personal rights. One of Merz's projects involves the development of a patent pool of medicines for the developing world.

Merz is a prolific writer of journal articles and is the author of Current Controversies in the Biological Sciences: Case Studies of Policy Challenges from New Technologies, with Karen F. Greif, a professor of biology at Bryn Mawr College. Merz and Greif study how policymakers have been unable to keep up with advances in technology and biological science in writing applicable law, and they look at the ways in which the federal government makes policy decisions that apply to biological, biomedical, and environmental issues. Their case studies included the Human Genome Project and tobacco regulation. In addition to noting actions that have been taken, they report on instances where there has been inaction, as in the case of tobacco when it was proved to be unhealthy. The volume compares U.S. and global policy responses to the technology that produces genetically modified organisms and points out how competing interests affect air pollution policy and regulation. Individual chapters feature associated short essays that address issues related to the chapter's subject. Current Controversies in the Biological Sciences is a resource intended to inform students of bioethics and science policy and professionals in industry, government, and other organizations seeking guidance on the covered issues.

In addition to serving on committees of the National Cancer Institute; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer, Merz has served on the ethics committee of institutional review boards, and other research-related committees of university, public, nonprofit, and commercial institutions.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, October, 2007, B.R. Schmaefsky, review of Current Controversies in the Biological Sciences: Case Studies of Policy Challenges from New Technologies, p. 307.