Mark Merlis

Although I have been writing fiction since I was a kid, I did not publish until my mid-forties and have never been part of the academic creative writing community. Until my retirement in 2012, I made my living analyzing federal health policy issues. I wandered into this field over thirty years ago, when I took a clerical job at the Maryland health department while awaiting my imminent success as a novelist. I moved on to work for Congress and a couple of think tanks. I became an independent consultant in 2001, writing papers for government agencies and for organizations such as AARP, the American Cancer Society, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. I live in Philadelphia with my husband, Bob. I have a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.A. in American Civilization from Brown University.