Jeff is a registered patent attorney in Merchant & Gould's Chemical and Life Sciences practice group with a technical background in medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical development.
Jeff’s practice focuses on the prosecution of U.S. and foreign patents across technologies including polymer and catalyst chemistry, wire and cable, medical devices, and mechanical applications. Jeff also has experience drafting opinions on infringement and invalidity, conducting freedom-to-operate and patentability searches, and has contributed to technical review of intellectual property as part of due diligence review.
Jeff joined Merchant & Gould in 2015 from Emory University, where he conducted post-doctoral research developing novel radioactive metallic complexes as renal radiotracers. His efforts at Emory led to U.S. Patent No. 10,633,404 and an internship with the Emory Technology Transfer Office. Jeff also draws patent prosecution experience from work with Cardinal IP where he conducted searches and preliminary examinations on international applications received by the USPTO. Jeff’s Ph.D. work at Georgia State University focused on the synthesis and evaluation of heterocyclic compounds as selective serotonin receptor agonists, and in silico modeling of serotonin receptor binding site interactions.
Outside the office, Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids, particularly when attending Atlanta Braves games, coaching youth baseball, or tinkering with small electrical and construction projects around the house.
“The joy of working in patent law is being able to apply my technical expertise to an exceptionally practical goal – getting the best protection for our clients to allow them to move projects forward with confidence.”