Robert Berkow is a physician, writer, educator, and editor. Berkow has served as editor on such publications as The Merck Manual, 17th Edition, The Merck Manual of Geriatrics, and The Merck Manual: Specialties, volume 2. He is the editor-in-chief of The Merck Manual of Medical Information: Home Edition and he is the author of sections on placebos, psychosomatic disorders, and somatoform disorders. He serves as executive director of medical literature at Merck & Co., Inc. Berkow is also a clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at Allegheny University of the Health Sciences.