Melissa Goldstein, J.D.

Melissa M. Goldstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy.

Professor Goldstein brings expertise in bioethics and health information technology and related legal issues, as well as insider's knowledge about how Washington works, to her joint faculty appointments at SPHHS and at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Management and Leadership. Prior to joining the faculty, she taught for five years in an adjunct capacity at GW, as well as at the Georgetown University Law and Medical Centers, and she was a director of the Markle Foundation's Health Program. At Markle, she led collaborative policy working groups that brought together government, industry, health care provider and consumer representatives to address legal and policy barriers to an interconnected health information infrastructure. Following a nationwide competition, Professor Goldstein was selected in 1999 as a White House Fellow, where she served in the Office of Vice President Al Gore. In that capacity, and subsequently as a domestic policy advisor to the Vice President, she was engaged in a broad range of domestic policy issues, including health care, bioethics, genetic discrimination, trade, veterans' affairs, transportation, energy, labor and housing. Professor Goldstein clerked for judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She has also worked as a legal consultant to President Clinton's National Bioethics Advisory Commission; a senior litigation associate at the Skadden, Arps law firm; and a coordinator of the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign's efforts on embryonic stem cell and other medical research.

Bachelor of Arts (Interdisciplinary, with concentrations in biomedical ethics, psychology and American government), University of Virginia, 1992
Juris Doctor, Yale Law School, 1995
Post-Doctoral Greenwall Fellowship (Bioethics and Health Policy), Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities, 1999

Current Issues in Bioethics, Department of Clinical Management and Leadership (School of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Issues and Trends in Health Systems, Department of Clinical Management and Leadership (School of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Bridging Health Policy and Health Information Technology, Department of Health Policy
Public Health and the Law, Department of Health Policy
Law, Medicine, and Ethics, Department of Health Policy
Public Health Ethics, Department of Health Policy

Professor Goldstein's current research interests include confidentiality in psychiatry, and the legal and policy aspects of health information technology, including issues relating to privacy and security.

Professor Goldstein is a frequent speaker on issues relating to bioethics, health information technology policy, confidentiality, and privacy. She serves on the GWU Hospital Ethics Committee, writes a quarterly column for the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, and has provided voluntary legal services for many years to the Whitman-Walker Clinic. She has also served on the Personalized Medicine Taskforce of the Aspen Institute's Biomedical Science and Society Initiative and on the AHRQ Ambulatory Safety and Quality Program on Improving Quality through Clinician Use of Health IT Special Emphasis Panel. Professor Goldstein was selected as a 2007 Aspen Health Forum Fellow, has participated in the Remarque Forum at New York University, and is a 2007 Delegate to the British-American Project.