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Roberts elected to National Academy of Medicine

October 17, 2017

Professor Dorothy Roberts joins Professor Anita L. Allen as a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Professor Dorothy Roberts joins Professor Anita L. Allen as a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Penn Law Professor Dorothy Roberts was one of 80 new members elected to the National Academy of Medicine on October 16, joining Penn Law colleague Anita L. Allen who was elected last year.

Penn Law Professor Dorothy Roberts was one of 80 new members elected to the National Academy of Medicine on October 16, joining Penn Law colleague Anita L. Allen, who was elected last year

The National Academy of Medicine works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy. Election to the academy is a significant honor, recognizing the professional achievement and commitment to service of scholars and leaders in health and medicine.

“This is a well-deserved honor for both Professor Roberts, and for Professor Allen the year before,” said Ted Ruger, Dean of the Law School and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law. “Both have been leading figures at the intersection of law, health, and science for years, and their work continues to be vital to our understanding of important issues such as genetics, privacy, and bioethics.”

Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights. She is also the 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, holding joint appointments in the Departments of Africana Studies and Sociology and the Law School. She is also founding director of the Penn Program on Race, Science & Society in the Center for Africana Studies. Her work in law and public policy focuses on urgent contemporary issues in health, social justice, and bioethics, especially as they impact the lives of women, children, and African-Americans.

Allen is the vice provost for faculty at Penn and the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy. She is an expert on privacy law, the philosophy of privacy, bioethics, and contemporary values, and has been recognized for her scholarship on legal philosophy, women’s rights, and race relations. In 2010, she was appointed by President Obama to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

Along with Roberts, six other faculty members from Penn were also elected to the academy this year.