Allison M. Whelan

Allison M. Whelan, assistant professor of law, joined Georgia State University College of Law in fall 2022. Her research and teaching encompass a broad set of medical, science, and social policy issues at the intersection of administrative law, health and FDA law, reproductive justice, constitutional law, and bioethics. Through her work, she aims to identify the public, private, and ethical factors that converge and influence the topics she writes about. In an era of political polarization and distrust, Professor Whelan probes whether ethical norms and expectations related to public and individual health are best policed and enforced at the public or private level. Her work also explores whether and how the administrative state can be used to promote justice and eliminate disparities among historically marginalized and vulnerable populations.

Prior to joining Georgia State Law, Professor Whelan was a Sharswood Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and an Associate Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. She was also an associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington D.C. in the firm’s Food, Drug, and Device Practice Group. At the firm, Professor Whelan established a particular area of focus and expertise advising clients on the research and development of medical countermeasures. She also co-chaired Covington’s Food, Drug, and Device Rapid Response team during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Whelan developed an extensive pro bono practice, advising non-profit reproductive advocacy organizations, assisting low-income clients with applications for various government benefits, and protecting voting rights.

Professor Whelan clerked for the Honorable Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable William J. Kayatta, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She also served as the inaugural senior fellow for the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

Professor Whelan is the author of numerous law review articles. Her work is published or forthcoming with the Vanderbilt Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Cornell Law Review Online, Iowa Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, Washington & Lee Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Illinois Law Review, Oklahoma Law Review, UC Irvine Law Review, and the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, among others. She is the co-author and co-editor of numerous book chapters and books, and she has published op-eds and commentary, including for the Harvard Bill of Health, Harvard Social Impact Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Ms. Magazine.

Professor Whelan graduated first in her class, summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2014, where she served as Lead Note and Comment Editor for the Minnesota Law Review. She also holds a Master of Arts in Bioethics from the University of Minnesota.