Michael Merz | Preclinical Safety, Translational Sciences
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research

Dr. Michael Merz is a clinical pharmacologist by training, with a focus on drug safety testing during the past couple of years. He worked as phase 1 investigator and Head of Phase 1 clinic for Quintiles in Freiburg, Germany, from 1993 to 1997 and joined Novartis Pharma in Basel, Switzerland, in 1998. At Novartis, he assumed responsibility as Head of Modeling and Simulation Clinical Pharmacology in 2000, and led the Systems Toxicology Section in Preclinical Safety up to end of 2008. He is now Head of Safety Networks in Novartis Preclinical Safety and leads the company’s liver expert team. In addition, Dr. Merz is the project coordinator for the EU’s IMI SAFE-T consortium, focusing on clinical qualification of liver, kidney, and vascular safety biomarkers.