Mervin Needell, M.D., M.A. now holds emeritus faculty status in U.M.'s Bioethics Program. From 1991-2001, he served as Medical Director and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine. From 1991-2000 he also taught bioethics at Barry University and at Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Needell received his M.D. from Hahnemann (now Drexel) University School of Medicine, completed a residency in urology at the University of Buffalo, and practiced his specialty in Miami-Dade county for the succeeding 31 years. Board-certified in urology, Dr. Needell previously served as Clinical Professor of Urology at the U.M. School of Medicine. During his years of clinical practice he took yearly sabbaticals, each usually of two months duration, to practice missionary medicine in Equatorial Africa, Central America, South America, India, and New Guinea. He made three voyages with Project HOPE, served with Operation Drake as staff physician, and worked as consulting surgeon at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene, Gabon. During World War II Dr. Needell served in the U.S. Army in New Guinea and the Philippines.

In 1985, he withdrew from clinical medical practice in order to return to academic studies in the humanities, earning a bachelor degree at Yale University and a masters degree in philosophy at Georgetown University. His CV lists several publications in the urologic literature. More recently Dr. Needell has published papers on philosophical ethics . He has also published an autobiographical book, Grandpa Merv's Memoirs.