- Core Faculty
Berman Institute of Bioethics - Director, Program on Human Rights, Health and Conflict
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Public Health and Human Rights - Core Faculty
Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health
Leonard Rubenstein is a lawyer whose work focuses on health and human rights, especially the protection of health in armed conflict and the roles of health professionals in human rights. A core member of the Berman Institute of Bioethics, he has a joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he is Director of the Program on Human Rights, Health and Conflict at the Center for Public Health and Human Rights. and a core faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health.
Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins, he served as Executive Director and then President of Physicians for Human Rights, as a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, and as Executive Director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
Research Interests
- Health and human rights
- Violence against health care in armed conflict
- Medical ethics, human rights, and national security
Education
- B.A., Wesleyan University
- J.D., Harvard University
- L.L.M, Georgetown University Law Center
Recent Publications
Rubenstein LS, Punishing Health Care Providers for Treating Terrorists, Hastings Center Report, 2015.
Rubenstein, LS, Allen, SA, Guze, PA. Advancing Medical Professionalism in US Military Detainee Treatment,PLOS Medicine 2016.
Rubenstein, LS, Amon JJ, McLemore M, Eba P, Dolan K, Lines R, Beyrer, C. HIV, Prisoners and Human Rights. The Lancet 2016: 1202-1214
Rubenstein L. Transforming the WHO’s Role in Advancing the Right to Health in Conflict. Global Health Governance2018: 13:11-16.
Haar R, Risko C, Singh S, Rayes D, AlbaikA, Alnajar M, Kewara M, ClouseE, BakerE.. Rubenstein L. Determining the Scope of Attacks on Health in Four Governates of Syria in 2016; Results of a Field Surveillance Program. PLOS Medicine 2018.
Footer, KHA, Clouse E, Rayes D, Sahloul Z, Rubenstein LS Qualitative accounts from Syrian health professionals regarding violations of the right to health, including the use of chemical weapons, in opposition-held Syria.BMJ Open 2018.