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Dr. Merlin is Acting Director of the newly created Division of Private and Public Partnerships at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this new role, Dr. Merlin is leading the effort to work with healthcare organizations, businesses, and educational institutions for health care promotion and disease prevention.

Dr. Merlin joined the CDC in 2003 from Lovelace Health Systems in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he served in various capacities, including member of the elected Medical Practice Board, Chair of the Department of Laboratories, Senior Vice-President and Chief Medical Officer, and an officer of the Board of Directors. In his role as Chief Medical Officer at Lovelace, Dr. Merlin was responsible for medical operations, medical costs, and quality of a statewide integrated healthcare system with a 250,000 member health plan, 225-bed hospital, 275 physician multi-specialty group, and a network of over 2,000 contracted physicians.

Dr. Merlin has also served on the senior medical management team of CIGNA HealthCare (which owned Lovelace Health Systems). Dr. Merlin led CIGNA’s Technology Assessment Council, which was responsible for evaluating medical evidence on new procedures and technologies.

Over the past decade, Dr. Merlin has worked on several projects and task groups for the CDC. He also served as both a member and Chair of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) until his appointment in DLS. He has also served on the editorial boards of Human Pathology and the International Journal of Surgical Pathology, as well as various test committees of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He is currently a member of the NCCLS Area Committee on Health Services and Subcommittee on the Clinical Utility of Genetic Testing.

Dr. Merlin received his Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Yale College and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Florida. He served an internship at Stanford University Hospital and completed his training in pathology at the University of New Mexico. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology. From 1984 until 1992 he served on the faculty of the departments of Pathology and Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, where he performed research in the molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and was Associate Professor of Pathology, Vice-chairman of the Department of Pathology, and Chief of Laboratory Services at the Veterans Administration Hospital.