Associate Professor
Center for Bioethics
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 573-8107
merz@mail.med.upenn.edu
Jon F. Merz is Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Faculty Affairs in the Department of Medical Ethics in the School of Medicine and Senior Fellow in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an M.B.A. from the University of North Florida, a J.D. from Duquesne University, and a Ph.D in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. Merz teaches medical ethics and research ethics throughout the Penn School of Medicine curriculum, he has taught science and engineering ethics in the Penn School of Engineering and Applied Science and a course in Medical Innovation in the Penn Bioethics program. Dr. Merz has established research expertise in the areas of research ethics, biobanking and genetics research, and gene patenting. Dr. Merz's seminal empirical work on the ethics and public policy of gene patenting has been cited in support of proposed federal legislation as well as by national policy committees in Canada, the UK, and France, as well as by the OECD. He has provided testimony on these issues to both the DHHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing as well as the US House of Representatives.