Ed Ergenzinger serves on the Leadership Council for the NC Bar Association’s IP Section and as a VP of the Board of Directors for BarCARES, a short-term counselling and intervention program for lawyers, paralegals, and students experiencing a mental health crisis.
Ed, JD, PhD, is a patent attorney and mental health advocate who lives in Raleigh, NC. He has worked in BigLaw, medium- and small-sized firms, and as a solo practitioner. Ed also has substantial in-house experience, including serving as Director of IP & Legal Affairs at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and as fractional IP counsel to Wyeth (now Pfizer) and Catalent. His university clients have included Johns Hopkins, Duke, UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Wake Forest Law, UNC Law, and Campbell Law.
Ed’s interest in mental health issues stems from his doctoral training in neuroscience and his personal experience living with bipolar disorder, an anxiety disorder, and complex PTSD. After a severe cycle of mania and depression left him unemployed, uninsured, bankrupt, and collecting Social Security Disability, he was able to return to practicing law with the help of medicine and therapy. Ed is a contributor and blogger on topics relating to bipolar disorder, mental health, and neuroscience for Psychology Today, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
He is lead author or co-author on over 100 scientific and legal publications, including articles that have appeared in Nature Neuroscience, Nature Biotechnology, and Nature Reviews Neuroscience. He has also been a speaker at myriad institutions and meetings, including Yale, Stanford, Duke, and meetings of the Association of University Technology Managers.