Alexandra Phelan

Guest Author

Dr. Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) is a faculty member of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She also holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she has taught global health law, US public health law, and epidemiology for lawyers.

Dr. Phelan works on legal and policy issues related to infectious diseases, with a particular focus on emerging and reemerging infectious disease outbreaks and international law, and catastrophic health threats such as pandemics and climate change. She has worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and Gavi: the vaccine alliance, and has advised on matters including international law and pathogen sharing, human rights law and Zika, intellectual property law, and contract law.

She previously worked for a number of years as a solicitor at a firm in Melbourne, Australia and was admitted to practice to the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia in 2010. Dr Phelan also holds a Master of Laws, specializing in international law, from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Laws (Honours) double degree from Monash University. She also holds a Diploma of Languages (Mandarin Chinese). Dr. Phelan is a General Sir John Monash Scholar and was recognized as an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society in 2015 and the 2019 Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence.