Karen H. Rothenberg, JD, MPA

Professor Rothenberg is a leading national expert on legal issues in health care. Over the last two decades she has focused her research primarily on the ethical, legal and social implications of genetic testing and research, including the legislative approaches to genetic information in the health insurance and employment context, the impact of genetic research on racial and ethnic populations and women’s health care, and the use of genetic information in the courtroom. Professor Rothenberg is co-editor of the book Women and Prenatal Testing: Facing the Challenges of Genetic Technology and co-author of five articles on genetics and public policy that have been published in the journal Science, the most recent of which is “Judging Genes: When Should Judges Admit or Compel Genetic Tests?” Her other numerous publications cover diverse research interests including the role of gender in health care, AIDS, research ethics, the right to forego treatment, emergency care, and new reproductive technologies. She has testified before federal and state legislatures on a wide range of issues, including the U.S. House of Representatives’ Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.

Professor Rothenberg has served on the Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission since its inception in 2006 (Chair from 2008-2010) and Co-Chaired the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit.  She is a past president of the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics and former co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. During sabbaticals and IPA leaves from the law school, she has worked at the NIH in the Office of Research on Women’s Health, the National Institute for Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) and NHGRI.   She has served on the NICHD Institutional Review Board and has been a member of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, the National Action Plan for Breast Cancer, and numerous NIH panels on prenatal care, the recruitment and retention of women in clinical studies, and the ethical, legal and social implications of genetics.

She received both a B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University and an M.P.A. from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law where she was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Jean Anderson, MD

Dr. Anderson is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a member of the American Academy of HIV Medicine. She has been an invited peer reviewer for American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Journal of Women’s Health and Journal of Gynecologic Health. Dr. Anderson has been recognized six times by the Johns Hopkins Gynecology and Obstetrics House Staff with the Excellence in Teaching and Mentorship Award. She is the recipient of the 2013 Constance Wofsey Women’s Health Investigator Award from the AIDS Clinical Trials Group.

Dr. Anderson received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from David Lipscomb College and earned her M.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She completed her medical residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Anderson joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1987.

Leslie Meltzer Henry, JD, PhD

Professor Henry provides expert commentary for federal and local agencies, organizations, and the media. She has served as a bioethics consultant to the Department of Defense and has presented before panels of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health Bioethics Advisory Committee. Professor Henry has provided written commentary for the Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Network, and she has been quoted in media outlets including the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, NPR, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Forbes, and the Baltimore Sun.

Professor Henry is a co-investigator on a project focused on addressing the ethical and legal challenges of conducting research with pregnant women during public health emergencies, like the Zika crisis, where there is an urgent need to attend to the health needs of pregnant women and their offspring.  She is also a member of PHASES, a research team aiming to develop ethically and legally acceptable strategies for conducting research about HIV treatment and prevention during pregnancy.

Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Henry completed a post-doctoral fellowship in bioethics and health policy at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Georgetown Law Center, clerked for the Honorable Judith Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was a fellow in the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Human Subjects Research, and was founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics.

Leonard Rubenstein, JD, LLM

He has engaged in extensive research and writing on human rights, health and national security and armed conflict. His current work focuses on health services in volatile environments. He founded and chairs the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, a group of humanitarian, human rights, health provider organizations working at the global and national levels, that seeks to reduce attacks on and interference with health workers, patients, facilities and transports.   He is a member of the Lancet Commission on Migration and Health and the editorial board of Military and Humanitarian Ethics of the International Committee of Military Medicine.His writings have appeared in professional journals and in op-eds in major media such as the New York Times and Washington Post

Mr. Rubenstein is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Board of Directors of the Global Health Council. He has served on the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association and the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as Chair of the Health and Peacebuilding Working Group at the United States Institute of Peace.  He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Congressional Minority Caucuses’ Healthcare Hero Award, the Sidel-Levy Award for Peace of the American Public Health Association, and the Syrian American Medical Association recognition award.

Maria Merritt, PhD

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • Hastings Center Fellow, elected December 2020
  • Recognition for teaching excellence as principal instructor of JHSPH course, Ethics of Public Health Practice in Developing Countries (221.616.01: classroom), 4th term 2016-17, 2015-16, 2014-15, 2012-13, and 2011-12; (221.616.81: online), 4th term 2017-18 and 2016-17; and as principal instructor of Ethics in Global Health Practice (604.603.86), 2018-19.
  • Student Assembly Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Commitment to Student Success, 2017
  • Principal Investigator, NIH award number 1R01AI114458-01A1, 2015-19, “Assessing Social Justice in Economic Evaluation to Scale up Novel MDR-TB Regimens” (award issued by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
  • Recognition for teaching excellence as principal instructor of JHSPH course, Ethics of Public Health Practice in Developing Countries (221.616.01), 4th term 2015-16; 2014-15; 2012-13; and 2011-12
  • Co-Investigator, NIH award number 1R01AI085147-01A1, 2010-14, “Ancillary Care in Community-Based Research: Deciding What to Do” (PI Holly A. Taylor; award issued by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
  • Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics career development award, 2009-12, “Researchers’ Obligations in Community-Based Research: Resolving Dilemmas of Care”
  • Faculty Innovation Fund, 2007-08, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “Ancillary Care in Public Health Intervention Research in Resource-Limited Settings: Researchers’ Practices and Decision-Making”(Co-PI Holly A. Taylor)
  • Faculty Fellow, Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, Harvard University, 2005-06
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Clinical Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, 2000-02
  • Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University, 1987-90