Role: Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH

  Contact: sharona.hoffman@case.edu

  Research Interests:
Health Law | Employment Discrimination | Disability Law

Sharona Hoffman, J.D., LL.M., is the Edgar A. Hahn Professor of Law and a Professor of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University. She is also the Co-Director of the Law School’s Law-Medicine Center and has been a member of the faculty since 1999. Professor Hoffman served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2006 until 2009.

Prior to becoming an academic, Ms. Hoffman was a Senior Trial Attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Houston; an associate at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, where she spent much of her time working on the Exxon Valdez oil spill case; and a judicial clerk for Judge Douglas W. Hillman of the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Michigan. During the Spring of 2007, Professor Hoffman was a Guest Researcher at The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Law Program.  From 2008-12, she served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. In 2013, Professor Hoffman was selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as one of six inaugural scholars-in-residence in public health law.  In this capacity, she worked with the Oregon Health Authority on the challenges of regulating in-home care agencies.

Professor Hoffman received her B.A. magna cum laude from Wellesley College, her J.D.cum laude from Harvard Law School, and an LL.M. in health law from the University of Houston.

She teaches Health Law and related courses, Employment Discrimination, and Civil Procedure.  She was voted First Year Teacher of the Year in 2011 and 2012.

Professor Hoffman has published over fifty articles and book chapters on employment discrimination, health insurance, disability law, biomedical research, the concept of race and its use in law and medicine, emergency preparedness, and health information technology.  Her work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals such as theGeorgetown Law Journal, the William & Mary Law Review, and the Boston College Law Review.  She twice received Case Western Reserve University’s Mather Spotlight Series Prize for Women’s Scholarship (2005 & 2013).  She has lectured throughout the United States and internationally and has been quoted widely in the press, including in USA Today,BusinessWeek, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times.

While at Emory, Professor Hoffman collaborated with faculty with health law interests, presented her work in a faculty colloquium and a student class, and served as a resource for students in the Health Law Society. She also worked with the CDC on projects relating to biosurveillance and electronic health records.