Steven Hoffman

Biography

Steven J. Hoffman is the Director of the Global Strategy Lab, a Professor in the Faculty of Health and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and the Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population & Public Health. He holds courtesy appointments as an Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics (Part-Time) at McMaster University and Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health & Population at Harvard 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 integrates analytical, empirical and big data approaches to craft global regulatory strategies that better address transnational health threats, social inequalities and human rights challenges. Past studies have focused on access to medicines, antimicrobial resistance, development assistance, health misinformation, health systems, maternal health, pandemics, technological innovation and tobacco. Currently he is co-principal investigator of a large $4.6 million CAD research consortium on “Strengthening International Collaboration for Capitalizing on Cost-Effective and Life-Saving Commodities (i4C)” with Trygve Ottersen at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He is a regular columnist with Vox and writes the Burden of Proof column with journalist Julia Belluz. He is on the Executive Advisory Committee and was a Founding Editor of Wiley’s new premier open-access journal Global Challenges. Steven J. Hoffman is the Director of the Global Strategy Lab, a Professor in the Faculty of Health and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and the Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population & Public Health. He holds courtesy appointments as an Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics (Part-Time) at McMaster University and Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health & Population at Harvard 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 integrates analytical, empirical and big data approaches to craft global regulatory strategies that better address transnational health threats, social inequalities and human rights challenges. Past studies have focused on access to medicines, antimicrobial resistance, development assistance, health misinformation, health systems, maternal health, pandemics, technological innovation and tobacco. Currently he is co-principal investigator of a large $4.6 million CAD research consortium on “Strengthening International Collaboration for Capitalizing on Cost-Effective and Life-Saving Commodities (i4C)” with Trygve Ottersen at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He is a regular columnist with Vox and writes the Burden of Proof column with journalist Julia Belluz. He is on the Executive Advisory Committee and was a Founding Editor of Wiley’s new premier open-access journal Global Challenges.

Research Interest

Steven recently 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 with the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics.