SLU LAW Adds Two Internationally Recognized Scholars to Faculty

03/12/2018

Health law scholar Ruqaiijah Yearby and biotech expert Ana Santos Rutschman will join the Center for Health Law Studies in July 2018.

“The addition of Ruqaiijah Yearby and Ana Santos Rutschman to the SLU LAW faculty will have an immediate and significant impact on the intellectual vibrancy of the law school community," said William P. Johnson, dean of Saint Louis University School of Law.

"They are truly talented scholars who will enhance our already impressive faculty and, in particular, our world-class health law program. I am especially excited about the social justice-driven scholarship, teaching and community engagement that Professor Yearby will pursue, as well as the important contributions to our innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives that Professor Santos Rutschman will make. Their decision to join SLU LAW gives me a deep sense of pride in my colleagues, our students and the mission we share. I simply could not be more pleased.”

Ruqaiijah Yearby

Ruqaiijah Yearby joins SLU LAW after serving as the David L. Brennan Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she also holds an appointment as Associate Dean of Institutional Diversity and Inclusiveness. Yearby is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar focusing her scholarship on the field of health law, with an emphasis on racial disparities in health care and law, justice and medical research. A prolific writer and frequent presenter, she recently presented her scholarship at the Oxford Global Health and Bioethics International Conference in Oxford, England.

Particularly interested in health care equality and eradicating racial disparities, Yearby will lead a new program focused on social justice at the University. The program will work to connect the community, businesses and academia to provide an equity framework and solutions that will equalize access to resources. Her course load at SLU LAW will include a Race, Health and Justice course that will explore how race was defined in the U.S. and how that has defined the country’s laws and institutions.

“SLU LAW’s top-rated health law center and commitment to social justice are the main reasons I am joining this faculty,” said Yearby. “I look forward to working at a school and in a city that is focused on change and creating equality and equity in the community.”

Yearby received her B.S. in honors biology from the University of Michigan, an M.P.H. in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, she worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an assistant regional counsel and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Ann Claire Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit before joining academia in 2003.

Ana Santos Rutschman

Ana Santos Rutschman joins SLU LAW after serving as the Jaharis Faculty Fellow in Health Law and Intellectual Property at DePaul University College of Law. Her expertise lies in the intersection of law and innovation policy. Her primary research and teaching interests include health law, intellectual property, and regulation in the life sciences. She has also worked and written on emerging biotechnologies, biobanking, artificial intelligence, and e-health. Santos Rutschman has spoken on these topics in conferences and panels around the world. In 2015-16, she consulted for the World Health Organization on the development of the Ebola and Zika vaccines. In 2017, Santos Rutschman was named Bio IP Scholar by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics.

In the fall, Santos Rutschman will focus her first seminar on biotech. The Innovation Law and Policy in Biomedical Technologies seminar will explore ways in which law and policy shape innovation in biomedical technologies. The seminar will examine the roles of tools including patents, market exclusivity, grants and prizes in spurring the production, transfer and dissemination of new technologies. Santos Rutschman will also teach a course on FDA Law and Policy in the fall, as well as Property in the spring of 2019.

“I met wonderful students, faculty and staff at SLU LAW, and I was tremendously impressed with the strengths of the academic program,” said Santos Rutschman. “My work intersects perfectly with the rich curriculum in the fields of health, international law and entrepreneurship, and I could not be happier to join the faculty. In addition, the law school’s broader connection with the University and the City of St. Louis itself is exciting. I am especially looking forward to teaching in an environment with a booming biotech startup community.”

Santos Rutschman received an S.J.D. (Science Juris Doctor) from Duke University School of Law where she also received an LL.M. She holds a law degree and LL.M. from Catholic University of Portugal.