Dayna Matthew, J.D., Ph.D.
Current Title: Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law
Current Organization: The George Washington University Law School
Expertise:
At time of Fellowship
Dayna Bowen Matthew. JD, PhD is the Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law at the George Washington University
Law School. Dr. Matthew is a leader in public health and civil rights law. She is the author of the book “Just Medicine: A Cure
for Racial Inequality in American Health Care,” and of the forthcoming book, “Just Health: Treating Structural Racism to Heal
America.”
Dr. Matthew has held many public policy roles. She served as senior adviser to the director of the Office of Civil Rights for the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and while a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, served as a member of the
health policy team for U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Dr. Matthew graduated with an AB in economics from
Harvard-Radcliffe, obtained a J.D. from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in health and behavioral sciences from the
University of Colorado at Denver.
Fellow in 2015-2016
Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law
J.D., Ph.D.
State at beginning of Fellowship
Placement(s):
Array
Specialty/Discipline
Fellowship Year Biography
Incredible work since Fellowship
Dayna Matthew is a full professor at the University of Colorado Law School and the Colorado School of Public Health. Matthew has also been a faculty member of the University’s Center for Bioethics and Humanities since 2004. From 2004 to 2011, she served as the Law School’s associate dean of academic affairs and vice dean. In addition to directing the Law School’s Health Law and Policy program, Matthew teaches constitutional law, civil procedure, and a variety of health and public health law courses. They include an interdisciplinary practicum titled, “Poverty, Health and Law,” which teaches law, public health, and medical students to collaborate in addressing low-income patients’ social needs.
Matthew’s primary research interests are in health equity and integrated health care delivery, with an emphasis on implementing innovative health policy. For example, she co-founded the Colorado Health Equity Project (CHEP) to form medical-legal partnerships throughout Colorado. CHEP collaborates with integrated, primary care providers serving low-income communities. CHEP attorneys and students provide direct legal representation to patients whose health is adversely affected by legal problems related to the social determinants of health, CHEP also provides training to providers and legislative advocacy on behalf of low-income patients. Most recently, Matthew is serving as the senior advisor to the Director of the Office of Civil Rights for the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC. Matthew’s forthcoming book, Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in America, was published in hardcover by New York University Press in September 2015.
Previously, Matthew practiced as a civil litigator in Kentucky and Virginia, where her work focused primarily on the defense of medical care providers and product manufacturers, following a clerkship on the Virginia Supreme Court. Matthew graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe with an AB in economics and earned her JD from the University of Virginia Law School, where she served as an editor of the Virginia Law Review, and won first place in the Lile Moot Court Competition. (Updated 09.01.15)
Current Info:
Current Title: William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor of Law
Current Organization: The George Washington University Law School
Expertise: