Michele L. Mekel
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Affiliate Law Faculty Associate Director of the Penn State Bioethics Program, Penn State University; Teaching Professor of Bioethics, and Affiliate Member, Penn State Law and Rock Ethics Institute; Joint Appointment, Department of Humanities, Penn State College of Medicine Location: University Park
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814-867-0811
About Mekel
Michele L. Mekel is the associate director of the intercollege Bioethics Program at Penn State University. She is also a teaching professor of bioethics, an affiliate faculty member of Penn State Law and the Rock Ethics Institute, and she has a joint appointment in the Department of Humanities at Penn State College of Medicine.
Working at the nexus of health care, law, policy, ethics, and education, Mekel has served as: a law professor, an undergraduate instructor in Southeast Asia, the executive administrator of academic-based bioethics programs, a health law and policy programming organizer, a health plan compliance and planning officer, a hospital association manager, a law clerk to the Missouri Supreme Court, and a Fulbright scholar. In addition, she has experience as a journal editor, and as the head of external affairs, communications, alumni relations, and events for a law school.
Mekel has written an array of academic journal articles and book chapters, and has presented at numerous conferences, symposia, and trainings. She is also the co-principal investigator of the Penn State Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project. Her creative writing has been featured in numerous publications, including having her poetry selected and read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac.
Mekel attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she earned a bachelor of journalism (magna cum laude), masters of business administration and health care administration, and a juris doctor (order of the coif and Editor-in-Chief of the Missouri Law Review).
Publications
Marsha Ryan and Michele Mekel. “Malpractice Risk Associated with Surgical Procedures.” UptoDate in Surgery, 2017.
Marsha Ryan, Michele Mekel, and Michael Sinha. “Disclosure of Errors in Surgical Procedures.” UptoDate in Surgery, 2015.
Michele Mekel, “Putting Theory into Practice: Thoughts from the Trenches on Developing a Doctrinally Integrated Semester-in-Practice Program in Health Law and Policy.” 9 Indiana Health Law Review 503-520, 2012.
Michele Mekel. “Emerging Issues in Health Care: Protecting Patients or Punishing Providers? A Symposium Introduction and Overview.” 31 Journal of Legal Medicine 1-7, 2010.
Michele Mekel. “Review of Health Law and Bioethics: Cases in Context.” 31 Journal of Legal Medicine 325329, 2010.
Michele Mekel. “Foreword.” In Nanotechnology, Ethics and Society, by Deb Bennett-Woods, xv-xvi. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2008.
Nigel M. de S. Cameron and Michele Mekel. “Taking Stock of the NELSI Landscape.” In Nanoscale: Issues and Perspectives for the Nano Century, edited by Nigel M. de S. Cameron and M. Ellen Mitchell, 359-376. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley, 2007.
Michele Mekel. “Small Science, Big Potential, and Bigger Issues.” 49 Development ;47-53, 2006.
Michele Mekel. Review of “Nano-hype: The Truth Behind the Nanotechnology Buzz,” by David Berube (2006), Nanotechnology Law and Business ;375-381, 2006.
Michele Mekel and Samuel E.D. Shortt. Study of Canadian Academic Health Policy Research Centres: Final Report. Kingston, Ontario: Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, Queen’s University, 2005.
Michele Mekel and Samuel E.D. Shortt. “Coming of Age and Taking Stock: The State of Academic Health Policy Research Centres in Canada.” 1 Healthcare Policy 140-150, 2005.
Robert H. Jerry, II, and Michele Mekel. “Cybercoverage for Cyber-Risks: An Overview of Insurers’ Responses to the Perils of E-Commerce.” 8 Connecticut Insurance Law Journal 7-36, 2001-02.
Michele Mekel. “Kiss and Tell: Making the Case for the Tortious Transmission of Herpes and Human Papillomavirus.” 66 Missouri Law Review 929 957, 2001.
Michele Mekel. “A Hobson’s Choice: Ensuring Open Government or Conserving Government Funds.” 66 Missouri Law Review 431-451, 2001.
Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law are reunifying to operate as Penn State University’s single law school, which will be known as Penn State Dickinson Law. While ABA approval for the reunification is pending, both schools are currently fully accredited. We submitted an application for acquiescence to operate as a single law school in July 2024 and plan to enroll a unified class in Fall 2025. Once reunification is complete, the separate faculties of each school will be members of the reunified Penn State Dickinson Law faculty.