Ronald C. Merrell, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Dr. Ronald C. Merrell leads the Medical Informatics and Technology Applications Consortium (MITAC), a Research Partnership Center at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), which is dedicated to telemedicine and medical informatics. The portfolio of  research includes projects for NASA, the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. The integration of telecommunications, information systems and medical databases seems destined to form the foundation of medicine in the coming century. MITAC addresses this fusion in the development of sensors, telecommunications protocols, effector software/middleware/hardware and process simulators. MITAC utilizes test beds for evaluating technology and validates medical procedures that rely upon informatics. Dr. Merrell has been awarded numerous citations by NASA including its public service medal three times.

Dr. Merrell is Professor of Surgery at VCU.  From 1999 to 2003, he was Stuart McGuire Professor and Chairman of VCU’s Department of Surgery. Dr. Merrell is also the Clinical Director of VCU Health Systems Telemedicine Program.  Previously he was the Lampman Professor and Chairman of Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine. He obtained B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Alabama, which is his home state. After a brief tour of duty in the Army, he joined the faculty at Stanford University. At Stanford, Dr. Merrell established a laboratory to address transplantation of Islets of Langerhans, chaired the Curriculum Committee and won the Kaiser Foundation Award for excellence in teaching. He was honored for his work in curriculum and teaching and led programs in clinical medicine, education and research. In Texas, Dr. Merrell began a long relationship with NASA and telemedicine beginning with relief efforts in Armenia.

He established successful programs in industry and government in the field of informatics research and development while continuing his interest and participation in related international programs in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Greece, Egypt, Brazil, Iceland, Turkey, Kosova, Romania and Ecuador.  His innovative work in telemedicine includes early use of Internet telemedicine, early use of Internet for intraoperative consultation and very early work in teleanesthesia.   He has over 250 publications and serves on the editorial boards of several major surgical journals.  He is editor-in-chief of the Telemedicine Journal and E-Health, the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association. 

Ronald C. Merrell, MD, FACS
Virginia Commonwealth University
1101 East Marshall Street
Sanger Hall Room 8-015
PO Box 980480
Richmond, Virginia 23298-0480
Phone: 804-827-1020
Fax: 804-827-1029
Website: http://www.MedITAC.com
Email: Ronald.Merrell@VCU.EDU