COVID-19

Supporting the global health policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future public health emergencies, my global health law scholarship with policymakers has sought to advance human rights in infectious disease control, conceptualize how human rights are limited in pandemic responses, and outline how human rights can frame global solidarity in facing common threats. Beyond this human rights analysis, I am examining public policy reforms necessary for nations to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease under the Global Health Security Agenda, framing legal reforms to strengthen the International Health Regulations, and examining global health governance reforms to meet future threats through the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
PublicationsPresentationsPublic Engagement
Nature Health
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Aug 2026
Reforming Global Health for an Age of Mistrust, Fragmentation and Overlapping Crises
Cambridge University Press
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Jun 2026
Administration and Human Rights
Health and Human Rights
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May 2026
Political Contestation of the Right to Health in the United States: Eighty Years of Conservative Opposition to Health and Human Rights
AJIL Unbound
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Mar 2026
Human Rights Limitations in World Health Organization Reforms: Strengthening Human Rights Obligations in Global Health Law to Ensure Global Health Equity
BMJ
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Feb 2026
WHO Pandemic Agreement is Only the Beginning: Strengthening Implementation to Protect Global Health
Public Health
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Jan 2026
Human Rights Limitations in Global Health Law Reforms
Elgar Companion to the Law and Practice of the World Health Organization
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Dec 2025
The Development and Implementation of Human Rights Law in WHO Governance
Complicating the Narrative Podcast with Salma Abdalla
Public Engagement
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Nov 2025
Health as a Human Right
Health & Human Rights Journal
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Jun 2025
Building Rights-Based Implementation After the Pandemic Agreement
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Jun 2025
Legal Preparedness as a Foundation of Global Health Security
Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics
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Jun 2025
Ten Years of Global Health Law
Groningen Centre for Health Law
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May 2025
Global Health without US Support: An Existential Crossroads for WHO Governance
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Apr 2025
Global Health Law: Between Hard and Soft Law
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Jan 2025
How Did Human Rights Fare in Amendments to the International Health Regulations?
Science
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Jan 2025
A World Less Safe and Secure
Lancet Regional Health - Americas
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Sep 2024
The US Elections as a Determinant of Global Health
BMJ
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Aug 2024
Global Health Reform Must Continue amid New Infectious Disease Threats
Journal of Global Health Law
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May 2024
Seventy-Five Years of Global Health Lawmaking under the World Health Organization: Evolving Foundations of Global Health Law through Global Health Governance
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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May 2024
Teaching Global Health Law: Preparing the Next Generation for Future Challenges
PLOS Global Public Health
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Apr 2024
The World Health Organization was Born as a Normative Agency: Seventy-Five Years of Global Health Law under WHO Governance
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Mar 2024
Shaping Global Health Law through United Nations Governance: The UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
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Mar 2024
Reforming Global Health Law to Ensure Human Rights in Global Health
University of Toronto
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Dec 2023
Book Launch: Global Health Law & Policy
University of Ottawa
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Dec 2023
Human Rights Challenges in Global Health Governance
PLOS Global Public Health
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Dec 2023
A Critical Juncture for Human Rights in Global Health: Strengthening Human Rights through Global Health Law Reforms
Global Health and Welfare Forum in Taiwan
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Nov 2023
Human Rights Challenges in Global Health Governance: Advancing Human Rights in Ongoing Global Health Law Reforms
Civil Society Alliance for Human Rights in the Pandemic Accord
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Oct 2023
Human Rights Concerns in the Pandemic Accord: Negotiating Draft
O’Neill Institute Colloquium Series
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Oct 2023
Global Health Law & Policy: Ensuring Justice for a Healthier World (U.S. Book Launch)
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Oct 2023
Shaping Global Health Law through United Nations Governance: The UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response
MSF South Asia Health and Humanity Summit
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Aug 2023
Bracing for Impact: Health and Humanitarian Responses in the Context of “Security Threats”
Global Health Law Consortium / Geneva Summer Schools
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Jun 2023
Global Health Law Summer School
Health Law Professors Conference
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Jun 2023
Reforming Global Health Law to Prepare for Future Pandemic Threats
Geneva Health Files
Public Engagement
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Jun 2023
Human Rights Challenges in the Pandemic Treaty Negotiations
BMJ Global Health
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Apr 2023
The WHO’s 75th Anniversary: WHO at a Pivotal Moment in History
Civil Society Alliance for Human Rights in the Pandemic Treaty
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Feb 2023
Human Rights Concerns in Zero Draft of the WHO CA+
Brocher Foundation
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Jan 2023
Concluding Workshop on Principles and Guidelines for Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies
Opinio Juris
Public Engagement
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Dec 2022
Advancing Human Rights in Pandemic Treaty Debates
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Nov 2022
A Global Health Law Trilogy: Transformational Reforms to Strengthen Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response
Oxford Commentary on the International Health Regulations (G.-L. Burci, G. Le Moli & J. E. Viñuales) (forthcoming 2023)
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Nov 2022
Implementation of the International Health Regulations: Evolving Reforms to Address Historical Limitations
International Organizations Law Review
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Jun 2022
The World Health Organization, International Health Regulations and Human Rights Law
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
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Mar 2022
Reforming Global Health Law to Respond to Pandemic Threats
eClinicalMedicine
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Mar 2022
Where is the “Public” in American Public Health? Moving from Individual Responsibility to Collective Action
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
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Mar 2022
Travel Restrictions and Variants of Concern: Global Health Laws Need to Reflect Evidence
Carolina Public Humanities
Public Engagement
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Mar 2022
Human Rights in Global Health Governance: Has WHO Risen to Meet the COVID-19 Challenge?
Yearbook of International Disaster Law
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Feb 2022
Global Obligations to Ensure the Right to Health: Strengthening Global Health Governance to Realise Human Rights in Global Health
Al Jazeera
Public Engagement
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Feb 2022
Human Rights in the COVID-19 Response
Australian Journal of International Affairs
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Feb 2022
Global Health Governance through the UN Security Council: Health Security vs. Human Rights?
BMJ Global Health
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Nov 2021
COVID-19 Raises a Health & Human Rights Imperative to Advance a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons
McGill Perspectives on Global Health
Public Engagement
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Nov 2021
Advancing Human Rights in Global Health through the Pandemic Treaty
Opinio Juris
Public Engagement
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Nov 2021
Human Rights Must Guide a Pandemic Treaty
Gillings School of Global Public Health
Public Engagement
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Nov 2021
Gillings Faculty, Students and Alumni Track Human Rights Effects of COVID-19 Response
World Health Summit
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Oct 2021
Periodic Reviews: A Game Changer for Accountability in Global Health?
International Pandemic Lawmaking
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Oct 2021
The Pandemic Treaty as a Framework for Global Solidarity: Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations in Global Health Governance
Yearbook of International Disaster Law Conference: Is International Disaster Law Protecting Us?
Presentations
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Oct 2021
Human Rights Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mainstreaming Human Rights in a Pandemic Treaty
EClinicalMedicine
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Aug 2021
Your Health Is in Your Hands? US CDC COVID-19 Mask Guidance Reveals the Moral Foundations of Public Health
Public Health Law: Concepts and Case Studies
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Jul 2021
Global Health Law
Global Health Law Consortium
Public Engagement
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Jul 2021
Decolonising Human Rights in Global Health
BMJ Global Health
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Jul 2021
Decolonising Human Rights: How Intellectual Property Laws Result in Unequal Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Jun 2021
Strengthening Human Rights in Global Health Law: Lessons from the COVID-19 Response
Health Law Professors Conference
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Jun 2021
Revisiting the International Health Regulations in the COVID-19 Response: Reforming Global Health Law
OpinioJuris: In association with the International Commission of Jurists
Public Engagement
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Jun 2021
Reshaping Global Health Law in the Wake of COVID-19 to Uphold Human Rights
World Health Assembly Side Event
Public Engagement
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May 2021
Strengthening Human Rights to Respond to Pandemic Threats
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
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May 2021
Background Paper 11: Human Rights Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic
BMJ Global Health
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Apr 2021
Using the COVID-19 Pandemic to Reimagine Global Health Teaching in High-Income Countries
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
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Mar 2021
Harnessing Global Health Law to Respond to Pandemic Threats
Lancet Global Health
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Mar 2021
Human Rights in Domestic Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Findings from a Media-Coverage Database to Track Human Rights Violations
Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response
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Mar 2021
Human Rights Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame
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Feb 2021
Are we all in this together? Assessing and addressing equitable access and distributive justice in global supply chains during major disease outbreaks.
OpinioJuris: In association with the International Commission of Jurists
Public Engagement
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Feb 2021
Harmonizing Global Health Law and Human Rights Law to Develop Rights-Based Approaches to Global Health Emergencies
Forbes
Public Engagement
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Feb 2021
We Can Use The Pandemic To Reimagine Global Health Teaching
Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law: The Future of Global Health Governance
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Jan 2021
The Role of International Organizations in Global Health Governance
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Dec 2020
The World Health Organization in Global Health Law
Health and Human Rights Journal
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Dec 2020
Analyzing the Human Rights Impact of Increased Digital Public Health Surveillance during the COVID-19 Crisis
International Organizations Law Review
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Dec 2020
The Stellenbosch Consensus on Legal National Responses to Public Health Risks: Clarifying Article 43 of the International Health Regulations
International Organizations Law Review
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Dec 2020
The Stellenbosch Consensus on the International Legal Obligation to Collaborate and Assist in Addressing Pandemics: Clarifying Article 44 of the International Health Regulations
Introduction to the United Nations, Drexel University
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Nov 2020
Global Health Governance: Has WHO Risen to Meet the COVID-19 Challenge?
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health: Gillings School News
Public Engagement
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Nov 2020
AJPH editorial: Populism threatens the public health response to COVID-19
American Journal of Public Health
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Oct 2020
Populist Nationalism Threatens Health & Human Rights in the COVID-19 Response
American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
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Oct 2020
Analyzing the human rights impacts of national pandemic responses
American Journal of Public Health
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Oct 2020
Reimagining Global Health Governance in the Age of COVID-19
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Oct 2020
Facilitating Access to a COVID-19 Vaccine through Global Health Law
BMJ Global Health
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Sep 2020
Health and Human Rights Are Inextricably Linked in the COVID-19 Response
Health & Human Rights Journal
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Aug 2020
Human Rights Must Be Central to the International Health Regulations
OUPblog
Public Engagement
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Aug 2020
Human Rights Must Be the Foundation of any COVID-19 Response
Lancet
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Jul 2020
Solidarity in the Wake of COVID-19: Reimagining the International Health Regulations
COVID-19, Law and Human Rights: Essex Dialogues
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Jul 2020
Moving Towards Global Solidarity for Global Health through Multilateral Governance in the Covid-19 Response
UNC The Well
Public Engagement
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Jun 2020
Focus Carolina Special Edition: Benjamin Mason Meier
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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Jun 2020
Has Global Health Law Risen to Meet the COVID-19 Challenge? Revisiting the International Health Regulations to Prepare for Future Threats
Lancet
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May 2020
The Right to Health Must Guide Responses to COVID-19
NPR
Public Engagement
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May 2020
Countries Slammed Their Borders Shut To Stop Coronavirus. But Is It Doing Any Good?
Universal Rights Group
Public Engagement
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May 2020
Realizing the Right to Health Must be the Foundation of the COVID-19 Response
The Big Picture (podcast), Yale University
Public Engagement
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May 2020
Why Should You be Worried about ICU Beds in Somalia?
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Public Engagement
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May 2020
During a Pandemic, Strong Public Policy Can Save Lives
Gillings School of Global Public Health
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Apr 2020
Human Rights Play a Critical Role in the Development of COVID-19 Health Policies
Isolated by the Law, Wake Forest School of Law
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Apr 2020
How Is Coronavirus Being Managed Globally?
Keynote Address, American Mock World Health Organization Virtual Summit
Presentations
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Apr 2020
Has WHO Risen to Meet the COVID-19 Challenge?: Revisiting the International Health Regulations
Forbes
Public Engagement
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Apr 2020
Can We Reimagine Global Health In The Post-Pandemic World?
Science
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Mar 2020
Travel Restrictions Violate International Law
Infectious diseases in the New Millennium: Legal and Ethical Challenges
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Mar 2020
Rights-Based Approaches to Preventing, Detecting, and Responding to Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Lancet
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Feb 2020
Do Not Violate the International Health Regulations during the COVID-19 Outbreak