Institution:
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Health Law and Policy Clinic, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School

Interests:
Health law and policy, access to care for vulnerable populations, telehealth and digital health regulation, public health ethics, medical device and biotechnology regulation

Description:
Carmel Shachar is Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Health Law and Policy Clinic at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School. Her scholarship focuses on law and health policy, particularly the regulation of access to care for vulnerable individuals, the use of telehealth and digital health products, and the application of public health ethics to real‑world questions. Her work has appeared in leading journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Nature Medicine, and the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, and she has been interviewed by outlets such as BBC News, Politico, CNN, and Slate. She has co‑edited several books on topics ranging from medical device regulation and consumer genetics to disability, health, law, bioethics, transparency in health care, and COVID‑19 and the law.

Previously, Shachar served as Executive Director of the Petrie‑Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, overseeing sponsored research, events, fellowships, student engagement, development, and major initiatives including the Health Care General Counsel Roundtable, the Center’s Advisory Board, and projects on precision medicine, artificial intelligence, and home diagnosis. Earlier in her career, she was a Clinical Instructor in the Health Law and Policy Clinic, where she helped lead access‑to‑care and Affordable Care Act implementation work, and she practiced health care law at Ropes & Gray LLP in Boston. She clerked for Judge Jacques L. Wiener of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Shachar graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and studied Bioethics and Religion at Wellesley College. She currently serves on the board of Fishing Partnership Support Services and on the Ethics Committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).