Dr. Steven J. Hoffman is the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and a Professor of Global Health, Law, and Political Science at York University, the Director of the Global Strategy Lab, the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance, and the Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Population & Public Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He holds a courtesy appointment as a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics (Part-Time) at McMaster University. He is an international lawyer licensed in both Ontario and New York who specializes in global health law, global governance and institutional design. His research leverages various methodological approaches to craft global strategies that better address transnational health threats and social inequalities. Past studies have focused on access to medicines, antimicrobial resistance, health misinformation, pandemics and tobacco control.
Steven previously worked as a Project Manager for the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and as a Fellow in the Executive Office of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York City, where he offered strategic and technical input on a range of global health issues. He also previously worked for a Toronto law firm specializing in cross-border intellectual property litigation, health product regulation, and government relations. Steven advised the World Health Organization on development of a global strategy for health systems research and was lead author on the background paper that provided the strategy’s conceptual underpinnings. For three years he convened an academic advisory committee on science reporting for Canada’s only national weekly current affairs magazine. He was previously an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa (2014-2017), Adjunct Professor of Global Health & Population at Harvard University (2015-2020) and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford (2018-2019).
Graduate Research Supervision (LLM, PhD): Professor Hoffman is open to supervising excellent graduate students with legal, public health, social science, or statistical backgrounds who are interested in being actively involved with the Global Strategy Lab (www.globalstrategylab.org) and undertaking projects aligned with its ongoing efforts. The Lab's interdisciplinary research and policy activities are currently organized around three interrelated programs focused on the 1) global governance of antimicrobial resistance, 2) global legal epidemiology, and 3) public health institutions. Professor Hoffman is additionally open to supervising students interested in all aspects of global health law, including doctrinal, empirical, applied and theoretical work. Students with and without law degrees are welcome to apply.