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Ana Santos Rutschman

Professor of Law
Faculty Director, Health Innovation Lab

Biography

Ana Santos Rutschman, professor of law, teaches and researches topics related to health law, intellectual property, innovation in the life sciences and law and technology. She is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on vaccine law and policy, the regulation of emerging health technologies and access to medicines. At ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥, Rutschman is the founder and director of the Health Innovation Lab, an interdisciplinary platform that brings together academic researchers, students, policymakers, practitioners, industry and the Philadelphia and Northeast Corridor communities.

Rutschman’s work has been recognized by numerous institutions, including the American Society of Law Medicine & Ethics, which named her a Health Law Scholar in 2018 and Bio Intellectual Property Scholar in 2017. In 2018, she was also named a Wiet Life Sciences Law Scholar by the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago. In 2022, the Boston Congress of Public Health selected her as one of the inaugural recipients of a 40 Under 40 Public Health Catalyst Award for her work on vaccine law and policy.

Rutschman’s book,Ìý, was published in 2022 by Cambridge University Press. Her legal scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in UCLA Law Review,ÌýEmory Law Journal,ÌýIndiana Law Journal,ÌýUC Davis Law Review,ÌýArizona Law Review,ÌýYale Law Journal Forum,ÌýHarvard Public Health ReviewÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýVanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, among several others. Her peer-reviewed work has appeared in Nature Biotechnology,ÌýVaccine,ÌýEmerging Infectious DiseasesÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýAmerican Journal of Infection Control, among others. Her commentary pieces have been published by Health Affairs Blog,ÌýBill of Health,ÌýSaint Louis Post-Dispatch, the Huffington PostÌý²¹²Ô»åÌý, and republished in Scientific American,ÌýNewsweek Japan and numerous US newspapers.

Before joining ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ Law in 2022, Rutschman taught in the health law program at Saint Louis University School of Law (2018-2022) and served as the inaugural Jaharis Fellow in Health Law and Intellectual Property at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago (2016-2018). Rutschman has also consulted for the World Health Organization in (2022 and 2015-2016) on matters related to the development of drugs and vaccines against COVID-19, Zika and Ebola.  

Practice Experience

  • Consultant, World Health Organization (2022; 2015-2016)
  • Joined the faculty in 2022

Recent Publications

  • Vaccine Patent Pledges in the Intellectual Property Context, Book Chapter, Bloomberg Law, August 2024

  • Assessing Patent Pledges: A Case Study in the Vaccine and Biopharma Space, Article, Akron Intellectual Property Journal, August 2024

  • Ozempic on Trial: A New Lawsuit Could Challenge More Than Popular Weight Loss Drugs, Op-Ed, U.S. News , June 2024

  • Lawsuit could challenge trust in Ozempic and other popular weight loss drugs, Op-Ed, The Conversation, June 2024

  • The Pressing Need for FDA Regulation of Tattoo Ink, Article, Oxford University Press, June 2024

Recent Presentations

  • '47th Annual Health Law Professors Conference', The American Asthma Patient, Temple University Beasley School of Law, June 2024

  • 'Inter-CeBIL Annual Retreat', Vaccines as Infrastructure, Centre for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law, University of Copenhagen, June 2024

  • 'Jaharis Symposium on Health Law and Intellectual Property: Artificial Intelligence in Health Care', Vaccine AI Patents, DePaul University College of Law, March 2024

  • 'AALS Annual Meeting (Intellectual Property Section Panel): Artificial Intelligence and IP in the 21st Century: Who Owns What?', Vaccine Intellectual Property: AI Patents, AALS Annual Meeting, January 2024

  • 'AALS Annual Meeting (Section on Law, Medicine and Ethics): The End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency', Increasing Equity in the Transnational Allocation of Vaccines Against Emerging Pathogens: A Multi-Modal Approach, AALS, January 2024

Office: Rm 228, John F. Scarpa Hall
Phone:Ìý610-519-5291

Courses and Seminars

  • Health Care and the Law
  • Regulation of Emerging Health Tech: From AI to 3D Printing
  • FDA Law and Policy
  • Health and IP
  • Contracts

Education

  • Duke University School of Law, SJD
  • Duke University School of Law, LLM 
  • Catholic University of Portugal, LLM (International Trade and Business)
  • Catholic University of Portugal, JD