Professor Mer currently presides as a principal specialist at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Professor Mer’s academic background includes a MBBCh degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, as well as a Dip PEC (South Africa), FCP (South Africa), MMed (University of the Witwatersrand) and a PhD (University of the Witwatersrand). He has a Pulmonology subspecialty as well as Cert Critical Care (SA). He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians - FRCP (London, UK) and of the College of Chest Physicians -FCCP (United States).
Professor Mer is involved in various aspects of clinical research, is a hands-on clinician and has participated in more than 950 lectures and presentations. He is a sought after presenter nationally and internationally with many presentations given to standing ovations. He is extensively involved in postgraduate and undergraduate teaching and serves as an examiner for the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa in several disciplines. In addition, Professor Mer has published numerous journal articles, at regional and international level, has been a contributer to book chapters, consensus documents, various national guidelines and is the author of the booklet, Antifungal Pocket Guide for Systemic Fungal Infections. He has been an invited reviewer for several peer review journals. Professor Mer is the immediate past President of the Critical Care Society of Southern Africa (CCSSA), having served three terms. He also served as Secretary of the CCSSA for 17 years. He previously ran the portfolio of Continuing Medical Education for the South African Thoracic Society (SATS) for more than a decade and was a founder-member, and is current vice-President of the Southern African Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis (SASTH). Professor Mer is the current Chairperson of the Global Intensive Care Working Group of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). He is also an invited member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) (USA) and ESICM venture that is currently addressing sepsis in developing countries. He has received numerous awards including the Surgeon General Commendation Award, the Phillip V. Tobias and Convocation Clinical Award for Distinguished Teaching (highest teaching award offered by the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand), The FJ Milne Department of Medicine Service and Teaching Award (premier award conferred to a member of the Department of Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand), the President’s Award of the Critical Care Society of Southern Africa (highest award offered by the CCSSA to a doctor for outstanding contributions to Critical Care) and the Sam Naidoo Award for the best clinician, conferred by the Southern African Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Most recently, he was the first recipient of the Hilda Datnow Jacobson award (awarded to the most competent, caring and capable doctor in the profession, irrespective of field of interest).

Professor Mer has additionally, a wide array of interests outside of medicine