Dr. Rory James Merritt, MD, MEHP
A board-certified emergency physician, a Brown PLME graduate, and a former Assistant Dean of Brown's Program in Liberal Medical Education, the original combined BS/MD program. He is also one of the few physicians who has formally studied combined BS/MD programs in the published research.
Went through a combined program, helped run one as a dean, and published peer-reviewed research on how its graduates turn out. That combination is why families and organizations ask him about BS/MD.
Four things, and they rarely come together.
- I went through it. Undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University and its Warren Alpert Medical School (A.B. 2009, M.D. 2013), the combined-program path itself.
- I helped run it. Assistant Dean of Medicine within Brown's Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), the original BS/MD program, from 2018 to 2022, then Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and the Learning Environment at the medical school through 2024. I sat on the PLME advisory and selection committees.
- I studied it. I published peer-reviewed research on the outcomes of combined BA-MD/BS-MD graduates (Academic Medicine, 2021), co-chaired the AAMC's BA-MD Affiliate Group from 2018 to 2021, and presented on combined-program career paths at the AAMC. Few physicians have looked at these programs this way.
- I practice medicine and I teach it. Board-certified emergency physician and attending, with a Master of Education in the Health Professions from Johns Hopkins and election to Alpha Omega Alpha. The advice comes from a working doctor, not a marketer.
Selected credentials.
Education
- Brown University, A.B., Community Health, 2009
- Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, M.D., 2013
- Johns Hopkins University, Master of Education in the Health Professions, 2019
Training & Board Certification
- Residency, Emergency Medicine, George Washington University, 2013–2017 (Chief Resident, 2016–2017)
- Medical Education Research Fellowship, Brown University, 2017–2019
- Diplomate, American Board of Emergency Medicine
Dean & Faculty Roles
- Assistant Dean of Medicine, PLME (the combined BS/MD program), 2018–2022
- Assistant Dean for Student Affairs & Learning Environment, Warren Alpert Medical School, 2022–2024
- Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, 2019–2022
BS/MD Scholarship
- Merritt R, Baird J, Clyne B. Demographics and Career Intentions of Graduates of Combined BA-MD Programs. Academic Medicine, 2021.
- Co-Chair, AAMC BA-MD Affiliate Group, 2018–2021
- Invited AAMC presentations on combined-program career outcomes, 2017–2019
Verify the record independently: Google Scholar · ORCID · Doximity
The families weighing these programs deserve straight answers.
The hype around BS/MD is loud, and the information families find is thin and often sells them something. I spent years inside these programs, as a student, as a dean, and as a researcher, and I kept meeting families who had been told everything except the truth about whether the path fit their child.
Bridge2MD is the honest version of that conversation. The free tools sometimes tell a family that BS/MD is the wrong path, because that is what a physician should say when it is true. Nothing here is for sale to your families.