WASHINGTON — Georgetown University professors offer expertise for journalists seeking interviews in a variety of subjects related to coronavirus, including its intersection with law and policy. To schedule an interview, please contact Tanya Weinberg at Tanya.Weinberg@georgetown.edu. Find an expert in infectious disease, global health security, health system readiness or related topics or find an expert in public policy, health policy, or the economy or related topics.
Public Health Law & Policy
Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., L.L.D. is professor of global health law and the nation’s most-cited health law scholar. He is faculty director of Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law. Professor Gostin served on two global commissions to report on the lessons learned from the 2015 West Africa Ebola epidemic. He was also senior advisor to the United Nations Secretary General’s post-Ebola Commission. He collaborates closely with the World Health Organization (WHO). Professor Gostin can be found on Twitter at @LawrenceGostin. Areas of Expertise: Global health law; Public Health; Constitutional Law; International Organizations; Human Rights Law COVID-19 Media Clips:
OPINION PIECE: Why There’s No National Lockdown (The Atlantic, March 31, 2020)
PRINT: What is Quarantine and Can You Be Forced Into it Due to Coronavirus? – (New York Times, March 27, 2020)
TV: Public Health Law Expert: Lifting social distancing too soon could cause ‘resurgence of cases’ – (MSNBC, March 19, 2020)
RADIO: Public Health Expert Describes The Critical Balance Between Human Rights And Public Welfare – (NPR’s Here and Now, March 23, 2020)
Matthew M. Kavanagh, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Global Health, Visiting Professor of Law, and directs the Global Health Policy & Politics Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. He works at the intersection of global health, politics, and law at Georgetown University. A political scientist by training, with a long history of work in global health policy and politics, his research and writing focuses on the political economy of health policy in low- and middle-income countries and the political impact of human and constitutional rights on population health.
Areas of Expertise: Global Health Policy, Politics, the WHO, International Institutions
Media Clips:
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PRINT – Donald Trump is hoping for a covid-19 treatment by November (The Economist, July 18, 2020)
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PRINT: WHO launches investigation to uncover ‘truth’ of Covid-19 (The Telegraph, July 9, 2020)
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OPINION: Congress must stop Trump from withdrawing from the WHO (The Hill, July 8, 2020)
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OPINION: Leaving the WHO Will Hurt Americans’ Health (Foreign Policy, July 7, 2020)
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OPINION: Why Trump and his allies’ criticisms of the WHO are wrong (The Washington Post, April 13, 2020)
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PRINT: ‘We will have many body bags.’ WHO chief responds to Trump’s criticisms (Science Magazine, April 8, 2020)
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ONLINE: World leaders who denied the coronavirus’s danger made us all less safe (Vox, March 30, 2020)
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ONLINE: As coronavirus pandemic delays 2020 primaries, is it time to worry about the November election? (USA Today, March 17, 2020)
Timothy Westmoreland, J.D., is professor from practice at Georgetown Law, and has worked extensively on public health and health finance policy. He has served as counsel to the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in the U.S. House of Representatives and later as the director of the Medicaid program at HHS. Outside of government, he served as counsel to the Advisory Committee on Tobacco Policy and Public Health and as an advisor to both the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Areas of Expertise: Congress/Legislation; Health Care Policy; Federal Budgets COVID-19 Media Clips:
VIDEO: The 10th Anniversary of the ACA (March 22, 2020)
State and Local Powers / Federalism
Meryl Chertoff, J.D., is the executive director of the Georgetown Project on State and Local Government Policy and Law (SALPAL) and an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law. Professor Chertoff has had a variety of positions in and around state government, including director of the New Jersey Washington Office, serving on the legislative staff of a New Jersey Assembly leader, and working as a lobbyist in Trenton. Federally, she worked in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) participating in the agency’s transition into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. Areas of Expertise: State and Local Government Authority; Emergency Management COVID-19 Media Clips:
OPINION: The Cavalry Isn’t Coming: Governors and Mayors Take Lead on Coronavirus Pandemic – (National Law Journal, March 22, 2020)
PRINT: Florida’s move to pull in its welcome mat may draw court challenge – (Politico, March 25, 2020)
TV: Right to travel across state lines under scrutiny due to coronavirus – (Scripps, March 30, 2020)
OPINION: Coronavirus Threatens Constitutionally Protected Freedom of Movement – (Bloomberg Law, April 2, 2020)
Executive Authority / Emergency Legal Authorities
Joshua Geltzer, J.D., is visiting professor and executive director of Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP). He is a member of the new National Task Force on Election Crises. Geltzer served from 2015 to 2017 as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council staff, having served previously as deputy legal advisor to the National Security Council and as counsel to the assistant attorney general for national security at the U.S. Department of Justice. Joshua can be found on Twitter at @JGeltzer. Areas of Expertise: National Security; Constitutional Law; Executive Authority; Election Security; Census Security. COVID-19 Media Clips:
OPINION PIECE: Impeachment didn’t distract Trump. It revealed how he would handle coronavirus. – (Washington Post, March 25, 2020)
OPINION PIECE: Perspective | We learned resilience after 9/11. But it’s the wrong kind for combatting a virus. – (Washington Post, March 17, 2020)
Mary McCord, J.D., is legal director at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) and visiting professor of law at Georgetown Law. She is a member of the new National Task Force on Election Crises. McCord was the acting assistant attorney general for national security at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2016 to 2017 and principal deputy assistant attorney general for the National Security Division from 2014 to 2016. Previously, McCord was an assistant U.S. attorney for nearly 20 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Areas of Expertise: National Security; Constitutional Law; Executive Authority; Election Security; Criminal Law; Cash Bail COVID-19 Media Clips:
PRINT: Lawsuit: St. Louis’ Cash Bail System Creates Coronavirus Danger (RiverFront Times, March 31, 2020)
TV: CNN’s Cuomo Primetime (CNN)
RADIO: Ex-DOJ Employees Call On Barr To Resign After Intervening In Stone Case (NPR, February 17, 2020)
Election Security & Cybersecurity
See Joshua Geltzer & Mary McCord above) Matt Blaze, Ph.D., is professor of law at Georgetown Law and professor of computer science at Georgetown University. For more than 25 years, Professor Blaze’s research and scholarship has focused on security and privacy in computing and communications systems, especially as we rely on insecure platforms such as the internet for increasingly critical applications. His work has focused particularly on the intersection of this technology with public policy issues. For example, in 2007, he led several of the teams that evaluated the security of computerized election systems from several vendors on behalf of the states of California and Ohio. Matt can be found on Twitter at @MattBlaze. Areas of Expertise: Secure Systems and Cryptology; Technology and Policy; Election Security COVID-19 Media Clips:
PRINT: Vote-by-Mail Gains Momentum, But It’s Not Fast, Cheap, or Easy – (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, March 26, 2020)
PRINT: Translating a Surveillance Tool into a Virus Tracker for Democracies – (New York Times, March 19, 2020)
Economic & Social Policy
Adam Levitin, J.D., specializes in bankruptcy, commercial law, and financial regulation at Georgetown Law. He previously served as special counsel to the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) Consumer Advisory Board. Areas of Expertise: Financial Regulation; Bankruptcy; Commercial Law; Consumer Protection COVID-19 Media Clips:
OPINION PIECE: How to Get Money to Small Businesses, Fast – New York Times, March 24, 2020)
RADIO: Small Businesses Need National Debt Moratorium: Levitin – (Bloomberg, March 26, 2020)
Indivar Dutta-Gupta is co-executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality where he leads work to develop and advance ideas for reducing domestic poverty and economic inequality, with particular attention to gender and racial equity. His team produced resources including COVID Response: Getting Cash to Lower-Income Families as well as Fixing Unemployment Insurance in Response to COVID-19. Professor Dutta-Gupta previously served on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee. Areas of Expertise: Poverty Reduction; Social Safety Net; COVID-19 Economic Security Policymaking COVID-19 Media Clips:
PRINT: Millions of Americans Have Moved Off Assistance. Does Trump Get Credit? (New York Times, February 20, 2020)
PRINT: Record $2.2 trillion stimulus package bolsters safety net gutted by GOP – (Washington Post, March 26, 2020)
Mark Gaston Pearce, J.D., s the executive director of Georgetown Law’s Workers Rights Institute, which has created a clearinghouse of COVID-19 Resources for Workers. Mr. Pearce is former chairman and board member of the National Labor Relations Board. He is also an arbitrator and has served on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO; the Coalition for Economic Justice; the Workers Rights Board and the Advisory Board of the Labor and Employment Research Association of Western New York. Mark can be found on Twitter at @MarkGPearceWRI. Areas of Expertise: Labor Law; Unions/NLRB; Worker Rights and Safety; Unemployment COVID-19 Media Clips:
RELEASE: $2 Trillion Relief Package Leaves Workers Vulnerable (March 27, 2020)
Rebecca Epstein, J.D., is executive director of Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality, which has published groundbreaking work on the adultification of black girls and the sexual abuse to prison pipeline. She leads the Center’s Initiative on Gender, Justice and Opportunity and can speak to topics related to how marginalized youth — especially girls and girls of color — are affected by the pandemic, in the following areas: juvenile justice, domestic violence, feeling secure, school and peer disconnection. Areas of Expertise: Juvenile Justice; School Discipline; Racial Bias,; Marginalized Youth / Girls of Color
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