Dr. Michele Mekel

Biography

Michele L. Mekel is an Affiliate Law Faculty and Associate Director of the Bioethics Program at Penn State University. As a Teaching Professor in Bioethics and an Affiliate Member of Penn State Law's Rock Ethics Institute, she holds a joint appointment in the Department of Humanities at Penn State College of Medicine. Mekel has extensive experience in health care, law, policy, ethics, and education. Her previous roles include serving as a law professor and undergraduate instructor in Southeast Asia, as well as holding various administrative positions in academic-based bioethics programs. She has organized health law policy programming, acted as a health plan compliance planning officer, and managed hospital associations. Additionally, she was a law clerk for the Missouri Supreme Court and a Fulbright scholar. Mekel has written numerous academic journal articles and book chapters, and has presented at various conferences and symposia. She was a co-principal investigator for the Penn State Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project and has also engaged in creative writing, with poetry featured in Garrison Keillor's Writer’s Almanac. Her educational background includes degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia in Journalism, a Master's in Business Administration specializing in Health Care Administration, and a Juris Doctor with Order of the Coif from Missouri Law Review, where she served as Editor-in-Chief.

Research Interests