Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, First, Middle):
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Provide the following information for the key personnel and other significant contributors in the order listed on Form Page 2.
Follow this format for each person. DO NOT EXCEED FOUR PAGES.
NAME
POSITION TITLE
Jon Frederick Merz
Associate Professor of Bioethics
eRA COMMONS USER NAME
MERZJF1
EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, and include postdoctoral training.)
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Troy, NY
University of North Florida; Jacksonville, FL
Duquesne University;Pittsburgh, PA
Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA
DEGREE
(if applicable)
YEAR(s)
B.S.
M.B.A.
J.D.
Ph.D.
1978
1983
1987
1991
FIELD OF STUDY
Nuclear Engineering
Business
Law
Engineering & Public Policy
A. Positions and Honors
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1/79-3/81--Principal Engineer, Impell Corporation, Melville, NY.
3/81-8/83--Senior Engineer, Nuclear Engineering and Licensing, Westinghouse - Offshore Power Systems,
Jacksonville, FL.
8/83-7/85--Senior Engineer, Risk Assessment, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Nuclear Safety Department,
Pittsburgh, PA.
7/85-9/87--Senior Engineer, Contracts, Westinghouse, Nuclear Services Integration Division.
9/87-9/88--Attorney, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA.
9/88-8/91--Graduate student, CMU. Attorney, private practice.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
9/91-10/92--Post-doctoral research fellow, Department of Engineering & Public Policy, CMU.
10/92-6/95--Associate Policy Analyst, Social Policy, RAND, Santa Monica, CA.
7/95-2001 -- Assistant Professor of Bioethics, Department of Molecular and Cellular Engineering; Fellow,
Center for Bioethics; and Associate Scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University
of Pennsylvania.
2001-2005 – Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Ethics, Penn School of Medicine.
2005 - present – Associate Professor, Department of Medical Ethics, Penn School of Medicine.
B. Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications
Merz, J.F. Is genetics research “minimal risk”? IRB: Rev Human Subjects Res 18(6):7, 1996.
Merz, J.F., Sankar, P., Taube, S.E., Livolsi V. Use of human tissues in research: clarifying clinician and
researcher roles and information flows. J Investigative Med 45:252, 1997.
Merz, J.F. Psychosocial risks of storing and using human tissues in research. Risk: Hlth, Safety & Environment
8(3):235-248, 1997; http://www.fplc.edu/RISK/vol8/summer/Merz.htm.
Wolpe, P.R., Merz, J.F. Informed consent in the emergency room: balancing innovations and patient protections.
Forum Applied Res & Publ Pol’y 12(3):127-131, 1997.
Ubel, P., Merz, J.F., Shea, J., Asch, D.A. How preliminary data affect people’s stated willingness to enter a
hypothetical randomized controlled trial. J Investigative Med 45:561-566, 1997.
Merz, J.F., Leonard, D.G.B., Miller, E.R. IRB review and consent in human tissue research. Science 283:16471648, 1999.
Merz, J.F., Spina, B.J., Sankar, P. Patient consent for release of sensitive information from their medical
records: an exploratory study. Behav Sci & Law, 17:445-454, 2000.
Smugar , S.S., Spina, B.J., Merz, J.F. Informed consent for emergency contraception: variability in hospital care
of rape victims. Am. J. Public Health, 90:1372-1376, 2000.
PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04)
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Biographical Sketch Format Page
Bosk, Charles L.
Karlawish J.H.T., Klocinski J., Merz J.F., Clark C.M., Asch D.A.: Caregivers' preferences for the treatment of
patients with Alzheimers Disease. Neurology, 55:1008-1014, 2000.
Latterman, J., Merz, J.F. How much are subjects paid to participate in research? Am. J. Bioethics 1:45, 2001.
Beskow, L.M., Burke, W., Merz, J.F., et al. Informed consent for population-based research involving genetics.
J.A.M.A., 286:2315-2321, 2001.
Merz, J.F. Introduction: a survey of international ethics practices in pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety.
Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety, 10: 579-581, 2001.
Merz, J.F., Kriss, A.G., Leonard, D.G.B., Cho, M.K. Diagnostic testing fails the test: the pitfalls of patenting are
illustrated by the case of haemochromatosis. Nature, 415: 577-579, 2002.
Merz, J.F., Magnus, D., Cho, M.K., Caplan, A.L. Protecting subjects’ interests in genetics research. Am. J.
Human Genet., 70:965-971, 2002.
Merz, J.F. The ethics of research on informed consent. Contr Clinical Trials, 23:172-177, 2002.
Henry, M.R., Cho, M.K., Weaver, M.A., Merz, J.F. DNA patenting and licensing. Science, 297,1279, 2002.
Nelson, R.M., Merz, J.F. Voluntariness of consent for research: an empirical and conceptual review. Med Care,
40 (9 Suppl.): V69-80, 2002.
Merz, J.F., Rebbeck, T.R., Sankar, P., Meagher, E.A. Pilot study: does the white coat influence research
participation? IRB: Ethics & Human Res., IRB: Ethics & Human Res, 24(4):6-8, 2002.
Cho, M.K., Illangasekare, S., Weaver, M.A., Leonard, D.G.B., Merz, J.F. Effects of patents and licenses on the
provision of clinical genetic testing services. J. Molecular Diagnostics, 5:3-8, 2003.
Sankar, P., Moran, S., Merz, J.F., Jones, N. Patients’ views on medical confidentiality. J. Gen’l Intern. Med.,
18:659-669, 2003.
Katz, D., Caplan, A.L., Merz, J.F. All gifts large and small: toward an understanding of the ethics of
pharmaceutical industry gift giving. Am. J. Bioethics, 3(3):39-46, 2003.
Agre, P., Campbell, F.A., Goldman, B.D., Boccia, M.L., Kass, N., McCullough, L.B., Merz, J.F., Miller, S.M.,
Mintz, J., Rapkin, B., Sugarman, J., Sorenson, J., Wirshing, D. Improving informed consent: the medium is
not the message. IRB: Ethics & Human Res. 25(5 Suppl).:S11-S19, 2003.
Merz, J.F., McGee, G.E., Sankar, P. “Iceland Inc.”? on the ethics of commercial population genomics. Soc. Sci.
Med., 58:1201-1209, 2004.
Merz, J.F. On the intersection of privacy, consent, commerce and genetics research. In: B.M. Knoppers, ed.,
Populations and Genetics: Legal Socio-Ethical Perspectives. New York: Kluwer Legal Int’l, 2003.
Merz, J.F., Henry, M.R. The prevalence of patent interferences in gene technology. Nature Biotechnol. 22:153154, 2004.
Beskow, L.M., Botkin, J.R., Daly, M., Juengst, E.T., Lehmann, L.S., Merz, J.F., Pentz, R., Press, N.A., Ross,
L.F., Sugarman, J., Susswein, L.R., Terry, S.F., Austin, M.A., Burke, W. Ethical issues in identifying and
recruiting participants for familial genetic research. Am. J. Med. Genet., 130A:424-431, 2004.
Kempner, J., Perlis, C.S., Merz, J.F. Forbidden knowledge. Science 307:854, 2005.
Jenkins, G., Merz, J.F., Sankar, P. A qualitatitive study of patient’s views on medical confidentiality. J. Med.
Ethics, 31:499-504, 2005.
Merz, J.F., Cho, M.K. What are gene patents and why are people worried about them? Comm. Genet., 8:203-208,
2005.
Redman, B.K., Merz, J.F. Evaluating the oversight of scientific misconduct. Accountability in Research, 12:157162, 2005.
Redman B.K., Templin, T.N., Merz, J.F. Research misconduct among clinical trial staff. Science and Engineering
Ethics. 12:481-489, 2006.
Redman, B.K., Merz, J.F. Research misconduct policies of high impact biomedical journals. Accountability in
Research, 13:247-258, 2006.
Caulfield, T., Einsiedel, E., Merz, J.F., Nicol, D. Trust, patents, and public perceptions: the governance of
controversial biotechnology research. Nature Biotechnol. 24:1352-1354, 2006.
Redman, B.K., Merz, J.F. Scientific misconduct: do the punishments fit the crime? Science, 321:775, 2008.
Redman, B.K., Yarandi, H.N., Merz, J.F. Empirical developments in retraction. J Med Ethics, 34;807-809, 2008.
Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, First, Middle):
PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04)
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