Leslie Wolf is the newly appointed Ben F. Johnson Jr. Chair in Law, a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law.
She is a Distinguished University Professor and a professor of law; a leading national scholar in health law, public health and ethics; and a published author in legal, medical and bioethics journals.
Now Professor Leslie Wolf has a new title to add to her list of accomplishments: Ben F. Johnson Jr. Chair in Law.
Henry J. Miller, who also funded the College of Law’s Henry J. Miller Lecture Series endowed the chair to honor the College of Law’s founding dean. It is awarded to a faculty scholar with an outstanding national reputation based on their teaching, research or service.
The College of Law Dean LaVonda N. Reed describes Professor Wolf as a talented, prolific scholar with a highly respected national and international reputation. “It is an honor to acknowledge her accomplishments with this appointment,” said Dean Reed.
As an internationally renowned scholar, Professor Wolf’s career has been full of groundbreaking interdisciplinary research on an array of topics in the fields of health law, public health and ethics — making her an ideal candidate for this appointment. Within research ethics, Wolf has conducted multiple projects analyzing how researchers protect research participants from harm. Her research on Certificates of Confidentiality has established her as the leading expert on the topic. She is currently engaged in multiple projects aimed at identifying strategies for conducting research that is more inclusive and responsive to the needs of underserved populations. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, other federal agencies, and the Greenwall Foundation.
Wolf earned her A.B. at Stanford University with distinction, graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, and also holds an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Prior to joining Georgia State University College of Law in 2007, Professor Wolf was a member of the faculty at the University of California-San Francisco, where she served on the Institutional Review Board and advisory committee for stem cell research.
“I am truly honored to have been awarded a chair named for the College of Law’s founding dean, Ben F. Johnson Jr. We all are the beneficiaries of his vision and commitments for the College of Law, and I will strive to advance those commitments with my teaching and scholarship,” said Professor Wolf.
Wolf was named a Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State University College of Law in 2018 and was approved for a second term in 2023. In addition to her appointment in the College of Law, she also holds appointments in the Georgia State University School of Public Health and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Professor Wolf served as interim dean from 2019 to 2021 and led the College of Law through the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Leslie Wolf meets with members of the College of Law community.
In addition to being recognized for her research, writing, commentating on scholarly papers, and serving as a grant principal investigator, Professor Wolf is admired by faculty and students alike for her ongoing commitment to cultivating the next generation of legal minds. At the College of Law, she teaches Torts and seminars in Human Subjects Research and HIV/AIDS and the Law and she previously taught Health Law: Quality and Access.
Beginning in July 2024, Professor Wolf will return as the director of the Center for Law, Health & Society. Wolf previously served as Center director from 2014-2019. She will succeed Erin Fuse Brown, the Catherine C. Henson Professor of Law who took over for Wolf when she was serving as interim dean. “While I’m delighted to take the helm again, I am sorry it is because Erin Fuse Brown is leaving Georgia State Law.” Wolf said. “Erin is a phenomenal scholar, teacher, and colleague, and we all wish her well as she joins Brown University’s School of Public Health Faculty.”