Michelle Mello Stanford

Michelle Mello, JD, PhD

  • Professor, Health Policy
  • Professor, Law
(650) 725-3894 (voice)

Biography

Michelle Mello is Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy at Stanford University School of Medicine.  She conducts empirical research into issues at the intersection of law, ethics, and health policy.  She is the author of more than 230 articles on medical liability, public health law, the public health response to COVID-19, pharmaceuticals and vaccines, biomedical research ethics and governance, health information privacy, and other topics.
 
The recipient of a number of awards for her research, Dr. Mello was elected to the National Academy of Medicine at the age of 40.  From 2000 to 2014, she was a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she directed the School’s Program in Law and Public Health.
 
Dr. Mello teaches courses in torts, public health law, and health policy.  She holds a J.D. from the Yale Law School, a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.Phil. from Oxford University, where she was a Marshall Scholar, and a B.A. from Stanford University. 

In The News

Illustration of AI in health care
Q&As

Exploring Liability Risks of Using AI Tools in Patient Care

Research led by SHP’s Michelle Mello provides some clarity regarding liability over AI technologies that are rapidly being introduced to health care. She and her co-author analyzed more than 800 tort cases involving both AI and conventional software in health care and non-health-care contexts to see how decisions related to AI and liability might play out in the courts.
cover link Exploring Liability Risks of Using AI Tools in Patient Care
Illustration of a uterus and gavel
Q&As

The Biden Administration’s Abortion Care Guidance

In this Q&A with Stephanie Ashe at Stanford Law, SHP's Michelle Mello — a professor of health policy and a professor of law — examines the guidance for health-care providers recently issued by the Biden Administration.
cover link The Biden Administration’s Abortion Care Guidance
Fake or Fact news on coronavirus
Q&As

Does Free Speech Protect COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation?

While some might say making or spreading known false statements related to the COVID-19 vaccine should be criminalized, the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech, continues to provide protection for people who promulgate such faulty information. So, how can the spread of misinformation be stopped without quashing free speech?
cover link Does Free Speech Protect COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation?