Lawrence Mertz, PhD '89

Lawrence Mertz, PhD '89 (Biochemistry), is Vice President of Research and Development for Molecular Diagnostics at Becton Dickinson, a Fortune 500 company.

In this role, he supervises a staff of over 130 scientists in facilities at Hunt Valley, MD, Raleigh, NC, and Quebec City, Canada.

Mertz is responsible for molecular in vitro diagnostic assay development for all molecular, oncologic and women’s health platforms. These assays include testing for infectious organisms and viruses that cause hospital acquired infection, such as MRSA, as well as HPV, sexually-transmitted, respiratory and enteric-based infections. He has a diverse range of experience being classically trained in biochemistry and molecular biology and has successfully developed products for the research life science, pharmaceutical/genomics and diagnostics markets for over 25 years.

Prior to beginning his career in industry, Mertz was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where he conducted research on cell signal transduction and cell membrane receptor cloning, sequencing and expression.