Lori Merrill

Overview

Lori Merrill is a Principal Research Associate and microbiologist for Public Health with 25 years of experience developing, implementing, and managing sample collection and laboratory analyses for research studies, including 2 decades of experience in longitudinal epidemiologic cohort studies. She is an author of over a dozen peer-reviewed publications and participates in conference presentations.

Merrill is the biospecimen team lead of the Coordinating Center for the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, collaborating with NIDA, FDA, and CDC researchers on collection and laboratory analyses of blood and urine specimens. She also serves as a Project Director and the Laboratory Analysis and Quality Assurance Working Group Chair for the Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR) program collaborating with university, public health department, and federal researchers to implement a standardized approach and quality assurance plans for laboratory analysis projects for research projects. Merrill has led biospecimen and laboratory planning and activities for several CDC projects.

Education

• MS, Microbiology (with a minor in Water Resources), Iowa State University
• AB (cum laude), Biology, Harvard University