Professor Mennin’s formal education is in Zoology (B.S., M.S. from California State University, Los Angeles and in Anatomy (PhD from the Department of Anatomy and Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles).  He was a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Post-Doctoral Fellow in Reproductive Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Rockefeller Fellow in Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. He was Professor in the Department of Anatomy and then Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNMSOM, 1977-2004).

The focus of his research inquiry changes early in his career from reproductive neuroendocrinology to medical education.  He continued to teach anatomy and was a Director of New Mexico's innovative Community-Oriented, Problem-Based Primary Care Curriculum parallel track (PCC) from 1979-1993.  Research interests were refocused to program evaluation and change and he directed the Longitudinal Evaluation Project and the Office of Program Evaluation, Education and Research at the School of Medicine (1987-1998) and was Assistant Dean for Educational Development and Research and Director of the Office of Teacher and Educational Development.  He was a founding member of the American Association of Clinical Anatomy and created the Interest Group in Gross Anatomy Teaching and Education for the Educational Affairs Committee of the American Association of Anatomy.

Professor Mennin developed and taught the Medical Education Scholars program at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1999-2004), a leadership succession program to prepare the next generation of academic leaders in health professions education for the institution.  He is an International Faculty Member of the Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER). Together with the late Miriam Friedman Ben David, and in collaboration with Ron Harden and Pat Lilley from AMEE, he created and wrote the Essential Skills in Medical Education (ESME) Course for AMEE beginning in 2005 and began offering it for the annual congress of the Brazilian Association for Medical Education (ABEM).  In 2012, he created a new online ESME Leadership course for AMEE: Leadership for Sustainability in Health Professions Education in a Time of Uncertainty. He is a faculty advisor for the Young Medical Educators Group for AMEE and a member of the AMEE Research in Medical Education Committee. In Brazil, he co-authored the Curso de Ativação de Processos de Mudança na Formação Superior de Profissionais de Saúde program for the Ministry of Health in Brazil (2004-2006). In 2010, in collaboration with the Secretary of Health, the Federal District of Brasilia, Brazil, the University of Maastricht School of Health Professions Education (SHE) and the Escola Superior de Ciencias da Saude, Professor Mennin initiated and co-directed the Maastricht Masters in Health Professions Education Course in Brazil. Professor Mennin currently serves on the Editorial Boards of Medical Education and Medical Teacher, and is a member of the Advisory Boards of the International Association of Medical Science Educators and of the Journal of Family and Community Medicine in Saudi Arabia.

His current interests are in the application of complexity science concepts to health professions education, leadership, management, change and program sustainability.