Medical Writing — A Few Online Samples

• “Light Plus Sound: Combination Technology Delivers a One-Two Punch to Disease” — an examination of optoacoustic or photoacoustic imaging, which has become one of the fastest growing areas of biomedical technology today.
• “Babies From Skin Cells? New Assisted Reproductive Technologies Are Turning Science Fiction Into Reality” — about the groundbreaking work that is generating eggs and sperm from skin cells, and other ART advances
• “Saving Lives and Money With Smarter Hospitals” — about streaming analytics and other new technologies to help balance costs and benefits.
• “The Birds, The Bees, and Technology” — Q&A about embryo selection; fertility preservation (saving eggs and sperm for those who are undergoing medical treatment that could compromise their ability to conceive and for those who want to delay childbearing); and gamete generation from stem cells.
• “On the Spectrum: As autism diagnoses rise, Wayne State alumni are on the forefront of research” — magazine article describing one mother’s story and her and others’ work to battle autism
• Coverage of the research presented at the 2005 and 2006 meetings of the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers.
• “Seeking Healthy Sperm: Microarrays and mRNA Used in Male Fertility and Reproductive Health” — (pages 24–27) a magazine article on a non-invasive screening test for infertility that may offer insight into possible worldwide fertility declines.
• “Stopping the Downward Spiral of Pain” — (pages 23–25) a magazine article on a multidisciplinary approach to chronic pain.
• “Non-Traditional Pacemakers Synchronize Ailing Hearts” — a magazine article on cardiac-resynchronization therapy in heart-failure patients.
• “Cancer Blockers: Research Enlists Patented Protein to Block Gastrointestinal Cancer” — (pages 38–39) a magazine article on new treatment methods for some of the most dangerous cancers, including colon cancer.
• “Gene Therapy Improves Quality of Life for Patients With Hemophilia” — a magazine article on a promising clinical trial that is giving patients renewed hope for success in the battle against this hereditary disorder.
• “Facial Pain Alleviated with Specialized Surgery” — (pages 26–28) a magazine article on the use of motor-cortex stimulation for pain and stroke patients.
• Many, many more samples are available on request.

Environmental/Outdoor Writing — A Few Online Examples

• Website conception, design, editorial content and photography for “Online Key to the Insect Orders” — an educational website to help students and other interested individuals identify six-legged critters.
• “For the Birds” — on policies of increasing nesting habitat for Michigan's Kirtland's warbler, which was once at the edge of extinction but now is now in the midst of a very strong comeback.
• “Galls! Galls! Galls! The Insects Behind the Weird Growths on Plants” — for the Entomological Society of America’s EntomologyToday blog.
• “How to Survive a Massive Mayfly Swarm” — fun look at insects for the Entomological Society of America’s EntomologyToday blog.
• “Michigan Mussels Disappear Within a Child’s Lifetime” — about the extirpation of native mussels in Midwest lakes.
• “Fishy Link: The Ear Bone Is Connected to the … Wetland?” —about the use of otoliths to track fish movements.
• “Marsh Restoration Brings Long-Missing Birds, Plants Home Again” — about the fast turnaround for a marsh after the removal of invasive wetlands grass.
• Four ecology chapters for a popular, nationally used high school AP biology textbook.
• “Confiscating Arsenic” — cover magazine article on a method that uses plants and yeast to filter arsenic from drinking water.
• Numerous chapters for Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Gale publishing, that describe the biology and natural history of the diversity of mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes and invertebrates. This is a college-level reference. Dr. Mertz's chapters available online include:
        • “New World Warblers” on the 126 species in this group of songbirds;
        • “Ursidae” on the giant pands, polar bear, grizzly, and other bears throughout the world;
        • “New World Porcupines” on the 19 species of porcupines;
        • “Moles, Shrew Moles and Desmans” on the 42 species in this group of narrow-snouted, fossorial mammals;
        • “Vespertionid Bats II” on this very large family of bats, many of which live in North America;
        • “Alligatoridae” on alligators and caimans;
        • “Iguanidae” on the approximately 900 species of anoles, iguanas and their relatives in the Iguanidae family;
        • “Percodei I” on perches and darters, North American basses and sunfishes, pygmy sunfishes and temperate basses;
        • “Labroidei I” on damselfishes, wrasses, parrotfishes and rock whitings;
        • “Beryciformes” on flashlightfishes, squirrelfishes and roughies.
        • “Isopoda” on pillbugs, slaters and woodlice;
        • “Diplopoda (Millipedes) ” on this large group of many-legged invertebrates;
        • “Hemichordata” on the group of small, worm-like marine creatures;
        • “Trematoda” on a group of parasitic flatworms.

website: www.nasw.org/users/lmertz/