Boston University School of Public Health

George Annas is the William Fairfeild Warren Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights of Boston University School of Public Health, and Professor in the Boston University School of Medicine, and School of Law.  He is the cofounder of Global Lawyers and Physicians, a transnational professional association of lawyers and physicians working together to promote human rights and health.  He has degrees from Harvard College (A.B. economics, '67), Harvard Law School (J.D. '70) and Harvard School of Public Health (M.P.H. '72), where he was a Joseph P. Kennedy Fellow in Medical Ethics. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Justice John V. Spalding of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and came to Boston University in 1972 as the Director of the Center for Law and Health Sciences at the law school.

Professor Annas is the author or editor of sixteen books on health law and bioethics, including American Bioethics: Crossing Human Rights and Health Law Boundaries (2005), The Rights of Patients (3d ed. 2004), Some Choice: Law, Medicine, and the Market (1999), Standard of Care: The Law of American Bioethics (l993), and Judging Medicine (1987), and a play, entitled "Shelley's Brain," that has been presented to bioethics audiences across the U.S. and in Australia. Professor Annas has been called "the father of patient rights," "the doyen of American medico-legal analysts," and a "national treasure." Professor Annas wrote a regular feature on "law and bioethics" for the Hastings Center Report from 1976 to 199l, and a regular feature on "Public Health and the Law" in the American Journal of Public Health from 1982 to 1992 and since 1991 has written a regular feature on "Legal Issues in Medicine" for the New England Journal of Medicine, now under the title "Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights."

He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the Institute of Medicine, cochair of the American Bar Association's Committee on Health Rights and Bioethics (Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section) and a member of the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academiesl He has also held a variety of government regulatory posts, including Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, Chair of the Massachusetts Health Facilities Appeals Board, and Chair of the Massachusetts Organ Transplant Task Force.

Read Stories about George Annas:

• "Health Care as a Human Right"
• Watch Video of Mariner and Annas' Presentations at 2008 Pike Conference
• George Annas Participates in NEJM Video Roundtable on Controversial Infant Organ Retrieval
• Annas Takes on Military Medical Ethics
• Health Law Experts Discuss History’s Lessons at Anniversary Conference
• Stay Away from the President’s DNA: Annas and Green Discuss Genetics and Politics in NEJM Article
• BU Today Video: Adderall for An A-Plus?
• Annas Argues for Human Subject Protections in Global Clinical Research
• Annas Named as Warren Distinguished Professor by President Brown
• Glantz and Annas Take Aim at Handguns, Health and the Second Amendment
• Annas Weighs In on Bioidentifiers and Privacy Protections
• Annas Weighs in on Right to Health in Hastings Center Report
• Good Public Policy on Preemption Emerges from Tragic Facts, Annas Writes in NEJM
• Annas: Don't Force Medical Pros to Get H1N1 Vaccine

Books

Author:

Annas, G.J., American Bioethics:  Crossing Human Rights and Health Boundaries, Oxford University Press, NY, 2005.

Annas, G.J., Some Choice: Law, Medicine & the Market, Oxford University Press, NY, 1998.

Annas, G.J., Standard of Care: The Law of American Bioethics, Oxford University Press, NY, 1993.

Annas, G.J., Judging Medicine,  Humana Press, Clifton, NJ, 1988.

Annas, G.J.,  The Rights of Hospital Patients, Avon Books, NY, 1975
(2d ed. Southern Illinois University Press, enitled The Rights of Patients, (1989),
(3d ed. New York University Press, The Rights of Patients, 2004)

Co-Author:

Annas, G.J., Law, S., Rosenblatt, R. & Wing, K., American Health Law, Little Brown, Boston, 1990.

Elias, S. & Annas, G.J., Reproductive Genetics and the Law, Mosby-Yearbook Medical Pub, Chicago,1987.

Annas, G.J., Glantz, L.H. & Katz, B.F., The Rights of Doctors, Nurses, and Allied Health Professionls, Avon Books, NY, 1981.

Annas, G.J., Glantz, L.H. & Katz, B.F., Informed Consent to Human Experimentation:  The Subject's Dilemma Ballinger, Cambridge, MA, 1977.

Co-Editor:

Annas, G.J., co-editor (with Gruskin, S., Grodin, M. & Marks, S.), Perspectives on Health and Human Rights , Routledge, NY, 2005.

Annas, G.J., co-editor (with Mann, J., Gruskin, S. & Grodin, M., Health and Human Rights: A Reader, Routledge, NY 1999.

Annas, G.J. & Elias, S., eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics as Guides, Oxford University Press, NY, 1992.

Annas, G.J. & Grodin, M.A., eds.,  The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code: Human Rights in Human Experimentation, Oxford University Press, NY, 1992.

Annas, G.J. co-editor, Genetics and the Law III,  Plenum, NY, 1985.

Annas, G.J. co-editor, Genetics and the Law III,   Plenum, NY, 1980.

Annas, G.J. co-editor, Genetics and the Law,   Plenum, NY, 1976.

Articles  (selected)

Annas, G.J., ‘I Want to Live':  Medicine Betrayed by Ideology in the Political Debate over Terri Schiavo, 35 Stetson Law Rev 49-80 (2005).

Annas, G.J., The Statue of Security:  Human Rights and Post-9/11 Epidemics, 38 J Health Law  319-351 (2005).

Annas, G.J., The ABCs of Global Governance of Embryonic Stem Cell Research:  Arbitrage, Bioethics and Cloning.  39 New Eng Law Rev 489 (2005).

Annas, G.J., American Bioethics and Human Rights:  The End of All Our Exploring, J Law, Med & Ethics 32 658-663 (2004).

Isasi, R.M. & Annas, G.J., Arbitrage, Bioethics, and Cloning:  The ABCs of Gestating a United Nations Cloning Convention, 35 Case Western Reserve J Intl Law 397-414 (2003).

Annas, G.J., Puppy Love:  Bioterrorism, Civil Rights, and Public Health, 55 Florida Law Rev 1171-1190 (2003).

Annas, G.J., Blinded by Bioterrorism:  Public Health and Liberty in the 21^st Century,  Health Matrix:J Law & Med 33-70 (2003).

Annas, G.J., Andrews, L., Isasi, R.., Protecting the Endangered Human:  Toward an International Treaty Prohibiting Cloning and Inheritable Alterations, 28 Am J  Law & Med  151-178 (2002).

Annas, G.J., The Limits of Law at the Limits of Life:  Lessons from Cannibalism, Euthanasia, Abortion, and the Court-Ordered Killing of One Conjoined Twin to Save the Other, 33 Conn Law Rev 1275-1296 (2001).

Annas, G.J., The Man on the Moon, Immortality, and Other Millennial Myths:  The Prospects and Perils of Human Genetic Engineering, 49 Emory Law J 753-782 (2000).

Annas, G.J., Human Cloning: A Choice or an Echo?, 23 Dayton Law Rev  247-275 (1998)

Annas, G.J., Protecting Soldiers from Friendly Fire: The Consent Requirement for Using Investigational Drugs and Vaccines in Combat, 24 J Law & Med 245-260 (1998). 

Annas, G.J., The Promised End:  Physician-Assisted Suicide and Abortion,  35 Duquesne Law Rev 83-199 (1996).

Annas, .G.J.  Questing for Grails:  Duplicity, Betrayal and Self-Deception in Postmodern Medical Research, 12 J Contemporary Health Law & Policy 297-324 (1996).

Annas, G.J. & Miller, F.H., The Empire of Death:  How Culture and Economics Affect Informed Consent in the U.S., the U.K., and Japan, 20 Law & Med 357-394 (1994).

Annas, G.J., The Changing Landscape of Human Experimentation: Nuremberg, Helsinki, and Beyond, 2  Health Matrix: J Law & Med 119-140 (1992).

Annas, G.J., Mengele's Birthmark:  The Nuremberg Code in United States Court, 7 J Contemporary Health Law & Policy 17-45 (1991).

Annas, G.J., Mapping the Human Genome and the Meaning of Monster Mythology, 39 Emory Law J 629-664 (1990).

Annas, G.J., Health Law at the Turn of the Century:  From White Dwarf to Red Giant,  21 Conn Law Rev 551-569 (1989).

Annas, G.J., Faith (Healing), Hope and Charity at the FDA:  The Politics of AIDS Drug Trials, 34 Villanova Law Rev 771-797 (1989).

Annas, G.J., The Impact of Medical Technology on the Pregnant Woman's Right to Privacy,  13  Am J Law & Med 213-232 (1987).

Annas, G.J.,  Death and the Magic Machine:  Informed Consent to the Artificial Heart , 9 W N Engl Rev 89-112 (1987).

Annas, G.J. & Densberger, J.,  Competence to Refuse Medical Treatment:  Autonomy vs. Paternalism, 15 Toledo Law Rev  561-595 (1984).

Annas, G.J., Reconciling Quinlan and Saikewicz:  Decision-Making for the Terminally Ill Incompetent, 4 Am J Law & Med 367-402 (1979).

Annas, G.J. & Healey, J.M.,  The Patient Rights Advocate:  Redefining theDoctor-Patient Relationship in the Hospital Context, 27 Vanderbilt Law Rev 243-269 (1974).

Annas, G.J.,  Hunger Strikes at Guantanamo:  Medical Ethics and Human Rights in a ‘Legal Black Hole,'  N Engl J Med  335:1377-1382 (2006).

Annas, G.J., Bioterror and ‘Bioart':  A Plague o' Both Your Houses, N Engl J Med  354:2715-2720 (2006).

Annas, G.J., Unspeakably Cruel:  Torture, Medical Ethics, and the Law, N Engl J Med  352:2127-2132 (2005).

Annas, G.J., "Culture of Life" Politics at the Bedside: The Case of Terri Schiavo,  N Engl J Med 352:1710-1715 (2005).

Annas, G.J. & Elias, S., Politics, Morals and Embryos, Nature 431:19-20 (2004).

Annas, G.J., Bioterrorism, Public Health, and Civil Liberties, N Engl J Med 346:1337-1342 (2002).

Annas, G.J., Bioterrorism, Public Health, and Human Rights, Health Affairs 21:94-97 (Nov. 2002).

Annas, G.J., Caplan, A. & Elias, S., Stem Cell Politics, Ethics and Medical Progress, Nature Medicine 5:1339-1341 (1999).

Annas, G.J. & Elias, S., Thalidomide and the Titanic: Reconstructing the Technology Tragedies of the Twentieth Century, Am J Public Health 89:98-101 (1999).

Annas, G.J., The Shadowlands:  Secrets, Lies and Assisted Reproduction, N Engl J Med 935-939 (1998).

Annas, G.J., Human Rights and Health - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 50, N Engl J Med 339:1778-82 (1998).

Annas, G.J. & Grodin, M.A., Human Rights and Maternal-Fetal HIV Transmission Prevention Trials in Africa, Am J Public Health  88:560-563 (1998).

Annas, G.J., Caplan, A. & Elias, S., The Politics of Human Embryo Research:  Avoiding Ethical Gridlock, N Engl J Med  334:1329-32 (1996).                                     

Annas, G.J., Reforming the Debate on Health Care Reform by Replacing our Metaphors, N Engl J Med 332:744-747 (1995).

Annas, G.J., Privacy Rules for DNA Databanks: Protecting Coded `Future Diarie,' JAMA 270:2346-2350 (1993).   

Annas, G.J, Glantz, L.H. & Mariner, W.K., The Right of Privacy Protects the Doctor-Patient Relationship, JAMA 263:858-861 (1990).

Annas, G.J. & Elias, S., The Politics of Transplantation of Human Fetal Tissue, N Engl J Med. 320: 1079-1082 (1989).

Annas, G.J., Fairy Tales Surrogate Mothers Tell, Law, Med & Health Care 16:27-33 (1988).

Annas, G.J, Protecting the Liberty of Pregnant Patients, N Engl J Med 316:1213-1214 (1987).

Annas, G.J. et. al., The Right to Refuse Treatment:  A Model Act, Am J Public Health 73:918-921 (1983).

Annas, G.J., Mandatory PKU Screening:  The Other Side of the Looking Glass, Am J Public Health 72:1401-1403 (1982).