Paul A. Lombardo
Regents’ Professor and Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law Center for Law, Health & Society- Education
Ph.D., University of Virginia
J.D., University of Virginia
M.A., Loyola University of Chicago
A.B., Rockhurst College (Kansas City, Mo.)
- Specializations
Health Law
Legal History
- Biography
Paul A. Lombardo, Regents’ Professor and Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law, is a lawyer/historian who served from 2011-2016 as a senior advisor to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, where he participated in studies such as “Ethically Impossible”: STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 (2011). He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and has taught, lectured and done research at dozens of universities in the United States and in Italy, Russia, Pakistan, India, Austria, the Netherlands, England, and Canada.
Lombardo has published extensively on topics in health law, medico-legal history, and bioethics and is best known for his work on the legal history of the American eugenics movement. His books include: Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court and Buck v. Bell (2008) and A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era (2011).
His work has been cited and his interviews quoted in every major American newspaper and on TV and radio by the BBC, USA Today, NPR, CBS Evening News, Anderson Cooper 360, and AlJazeera: English.
Lombardo has served on the Council of the American Association for the History of Medicine; he recently completed a term on the board of directors of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.
Lombardo advised the Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) Laboratory panel that assembled the digital Image Archive on American Eugenics Movement, and was a consultant and interview subject for DNA Interactive: Chronicle, a website that explores the history of eugenics alongside the history of genetics. He was also a contributor and consultant for the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum exhibit, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race.
In 2002, he sponsored an historical marker correcting the record concerning the Supreme Court’s infamous decision in the 1927 eugenical sterilization case of Buck v. Bell. His advocacy for state governmental repudiation of past eugenic policies prompted official apologies in seven states. In 2016, he sponsored the Carrie Buck Memorial Study Room at Georgia State Law. The Buck Memorial is the first and only permanent space memorializing the history of eugenics in any law school.
Lombardo has been a historical consultant for several films, including The Lynchburg Story (Discovery Channel, 1993), Race: the Power of an Illusion Part I, The Difference Between Us (PBS, April 2003), and The Golden Door (presented by Martin Scorsese/ Miramax, 2006) a feature film that explored the impact of eugenic screening on early 20th century immigrants at Ellis Island. Most recently he has been featured in several documentaries on the history of eugenics, including: The Hidden History of Eugenics (Australia, 2016), Law and Justice (Korea, 2014), Eugenetica negli Stati Uniti (Switzerland, 2013), Hygiene Raciale (France, 2012), and The Jukes — Bad Blood or Bad Science (BBC, 2011). He has recently been a featured commentator on PBS American Experience: The Eugenics Crusade, NPR Hidden Brain: Emma, Carrie, Vivian: How A Family Became A Test Case For Forced Sterilizations and NPR Radiolab: Unfit.
From 1985-1990, Lombardo practiced law in California. From 1990 until 2006, he served on the faculty of the Schools of Law and Medicine at the University of Virginia, where he directed the Center for Mental Health Law at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy and the Program in Law and Medicine at the Center for Biomedical Ethics.
He joined the Georgia State Law faculty in 2006. As a member of the Center for Law, Health & Society, he teaches courses in Genetics and the Law, the History of Bioethics, Mental Health Law and the History of Public Health Law. Lombardo is also a member of the Associate Faculty at the Center for Bioethics and Culture of the Sindh Institute for Urology and Transplantation in Karachi, Pakistan, where he teaches a course in Bioethics and the Law.
- Publications
Books
Paul A. Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell (2d ed. 2022).
Paul A. Lombardo, A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era (Paul A. Lombardo ed., Ind. Univ. Press 2011).
Paul A. Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 2008).
Paul A. Lombardo, Fletcher's Introduction to Clinical Ethics (3rd ed., Johns C. Fletcher, Edward M. Spencer, & Paul A. Lombardo eds., University Publishing Group 2005).
Paul A. Lombardo, Introduction to Clinical Ethics (2nd ed., John C. Fletcher, Paul A. Lombardo, Mary Faith Marshall & Franklin G. Miller eds., University Publishing Group 1997).
Paul A. Lombardo, Introduction to Clinical Ethics (John C. Fletcher, Charles A. Hite, Paul A. Lombardo & Mary Faith Marshall eds., University Publishing Group 1995).
Book Chapters
Paul Lombardo, Eugenics and Public Health: Historical Connections and Ethical Implications, in The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics 642 (Anna C. Mastroianni, Jeffrey P. Kahn, & Nancy E. Kass 2019).
Paul A. Lombardo, Anthropometry, Race, and Eugenic Research: "Measurements of Growing Negro Children" at the Tuskegee Institute, 1932-1944, inThe Uses of Humans in Experiment: Perspectives from the 17th to the 20th Century 215 (2016).
Paul A. Lombardo, Preface, in Kevin Begos, et. al., Against Their Will: North Carolina's Sterilization Program and the Campaign for Reparations (Gray Oak Books, 2012).
Paul A. Lombardo, From Better Babies to the Bunglers: Eugenics on Tobacco Road, in A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era (Paul A. Lombardo ed., Ind. Univ. Press, 2011).
Paul A. Lombardo, Introduction: Looking Back at Eugenics, in A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era (Paul A. Lombardo ed., Ind. Univ. Press, 2011).
P. A. Lombardo, Historical Development and Practice of Eugenics, in Proceedings: Pontifical Academia Pro Vita, International Congress: The New Frontiers of Genetics and the Risk of Eugenics (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Citta del Vaticano, 2010).
Paul A. Lombardo, Buck v. Bell, in Encyclopedia of American Disability History (Susan Burch ed., Facts on File, 2009).
Paul A. Lombardo, Involuntary Sterilization, in Encyclopedia of American Disability History (Susan Burch ed., Facts on File, 2009).
Paul A. Lombardo, The Tuskegee Study, in Encyclopedia of American Disability History (Susan Burch ed., Facts on File, 2009).
Paul A. Lombardo, The Ethics of Controlling Reproduction in a Population with Mental Disabilities, in Pediatric Bioethics (Geoffrey Miller ed., Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Paul A. Lombardo & Ann Bostrom, Swimming Upstream: Regulating Genetically Modified Salmon, in Altering Nature: Religion, Biotechnology, & Public Policy (B. Andrew Lustig, Gerald P. McKenny, & Baruch A. Brody eds., Springer, 2008).
Paul A. Lombardo, Human Sterilization, in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (2nd ed., William A. Darity, Jr. ed., MacMillan/Gale, 2007).
Paul A. Lombardo, The History of Ethics in Innovative Surgery: A Few Stories, Many Questions, in Ethical Guidelines for Innovative Surgery (Angelique Reitsma & Jonathan Moreno eds., University Publishing Group, 2006).
Paul A. Lombardo, Contributor, Testosterone and Aging: Clinical Research Directions (Catharyn T. Liverman & Dan G. Blazer eds., National Academies Press 2004).
Paul A. Lombardo, “Of Utmost National Urgency”: The Lynchburg Hepatitis Study, 1942, in In the Wake of Terror: Medicine and Morality in a Time of Crisis (Jonathan Moreno ed., MIT Press, 2003).
Paul A. Lombardo, A Matter of Days, in Developing Organization Ethics in Healthcare: A Case-based Approach to Policy, Practice, and Compliance (Ann E. Mills, Edward M. Spencer, & Patricia H. Werhane eds., University Publishing Group, 2001).
Paul A. Lombardo, Medicine, Eugenics, and the Supreme Court: From Coercive Sterilization to Reproductive Freedom, in Frontiers in Bioethics: Essays Dedicated to John C. Fletcher (Franklin G. Miller ed., University Publishing Group, 2000).
Paul A. Lombardo, Cloning, in Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought (2nd rev. ed., Alan Bullock & Stephen Trombley eds., W.W. Norton & Co., 1999).
Paul A. Lombardo, Genetic Engineering, in Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought (2nd rev. ed., Alan Bullock & Stephen Trombley eds., W.W. Norton & Co., 1999).
Paul A. Lombardo & Stephen Trombley, Genetic Testing, in Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought (2nd rev. ed., Alan Bullock & Stephen Trombley eds., W.W. Norton & Co., 1999).
Paul A. Lombardo, Eugenics, in The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics (James F. Childress & John MacQuarrie eds., Westminster Press, 1986).
Paul A. Lombardo, Case #22, in Who Should Decide?: Paternalism in Health Care (James F. Childress ed., Oxford University Press, 1982).
Articles
Paul A. Lombardo, "Ridding the Race of His Defective Blood": Eugenics in the Journal, 1906-1948, 390 New Eng. J. Med. 869 (2024)
Stacie P. Kershner, Erin C. Fuse Brown, Leslie E. Wolf, Paul A. Lombardo, & Yaniv Heled, Introduction: Defining Health Law for the Future: A Tribute to Charity Scott, 52 J.L. Med. & Ethics 216 (2024).
Paul A. Lombardo, Charity Scott, Bioethics, and Health Law, 52 J.L. Med. & Ethics 287 (2024).
Paul A. Lombardo, Republicans, Democrats & Doctors: The Lawmakers Who Wrote Sterilization Laws, 51 J. L. Med. & Ethics 123 (2023).
Paul A. Lombardo, "We Who Champion the Unborn": Racial Poisons, Eugenics, and the Campaign for Prohibition, 50(1) J. L., Med. & Ethics 124-38 (2022).
Paul A. Lombardo, 29 "A Menace to the Public": The Aiken Leper Case, 1909. 29 J. S. Legal Hist. 13 (2022).
Paul Lombardo, Charles Bliss, Sylvia Caley, Steve Gottlieb, Sue Jamieson, Teresa Wynn Roseborough, & David Webster, Reflecting on Olmstead: Representing Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, 40 J. Legal Med. 27 (2020).
Kayte Spector-Bagdady & Paul A. Lombardo, U.S. Public Health Service STD Experiments in Guatemala (1946–1948) and Their Aftermath, 41 Ethics & Hum. Res. 29 (2019).
Paul A. Lombardo, The Power of Heredity and the Relevance of Eugenic History, 20 Genetics in Med. 1305 (2018), doi://10.1038/s41436-018-0123-4.
Paul A. Lombardo, A Child's Right to Be Well Born: Venereal Disease and the Eugenic Marriage Laws, 1913-1935, 60 Persp. Biology & Med. 211 (2017).
Paul A. Lombardo, Chemistry: The Hidden War, 541 Nature 154 (2017) (reviewing Susan L. Smith, Toxic Exposures: Mustard Gas and the Health Consequences of World War II in the United States (2017)).
Paul A. Lombardo, How to Escape the Doctor's Dilemma? De-Medicalize Reproductive Technologies, 43 J. L. Med. & Ethics 326 (2015).
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 100 Cath. Hist. Rev. 179 (2014) (reviewing Sharon M. Leon, An Image of God: The Catholic Struggle with Eugenics (2013)).
Paul A. Lombardo, When Heroes Stumble, 40 Sexually Transmitted Diseases 280 (2013).
Kayte Spector-Bagdady & Paul A. Lombardo, "Something of an Adventure": Postwar NIH Research Ethos and the Guatemala STD Experiments, 41 J.L. Med. & Ethics 697 (2013).
Paul A. Lombardo, A Case of Abortion in India, Recent Developments in Health Care Law: Culture and Controversy, 25 HEC Forum 10 (2013).
Paul A. Lombardo, Ethically Impossible: New Educational Tools, Bioethics Forum, Nov. 15, 2012.
Paul A. Lombardo, "Ethically Impossible": Investigating the PHS/Guatemala STD Scandal, The Federalist, 2nd Series, no. 34 (2012) at 4-5
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, J. Am. Ethnic Hist., Sum. 2012, at 90 (reviewing Susan M. Reverby, Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy (2009)).
Paul A. Lombardo, Annotation: Past and Present of Eugenics, Biopolitics, vol. 1 (2012) at 3-4
Paul A. Lombardo, Return of the Jukes: Eugenic Mythologies and Internet Evangelism, 33 J. Legal Med. 207 (2012).
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 28 Ethics & Med. 121 (2012) (reviewing Helen Stanton Chapple, No Place for Dying: Hospitals and the Ideology of Rescue (2010)).
Paul A. Lombardo, Bioethics on the Subcontinent: The Sindh Institute in Karachi, 23 HEC Forum 57 (2011).
Paul A. Lombardo, The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008, Recent Developments in Health Care Law: Partners in Innovation, 22 HEC Forum 87 (2010).
Jonathan Todres, Children's Health Rights and the "Double Burden" of Disease, Recent Developments in Health Care Law: Partners in Innovation, 22 HEC Forum 106 (2010).
Paul A. Lombardo, Tracking Chromosomes, Castrating Dwarves: Uninformed Consent and Eugenic Research, 25 Ethics & Med. 149 (2009).
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 84 Q. Rev. Biology 178 (2009) (reviewing Jan A. Witkowski & John R. Inglis, Davenport's Dream: 21st Century Reflections on Heredity and Eugenics (2005)).
Paul A. Lombardo, Disability, Eugenics, and the Culture Wars, 2 St. Louis U. J. Health L. & Pol'y 57 (2008).
Lawrence K. Altman, Michael A. Mussallem, Rebecca Dresser, Paul A. Lombardo, Peter A. Ubel, & Christopher L. White, Outside the Operating Room - Economic, Regulatory, & Legal Challenges: A Collection of Perspectives & Panel Discussion
Paul A. Lombardo, Legal Archaeology: Recovering the Stories Behind the Cases, 36 J.L. Med. & Ethics 589 (2008).
Michael Alberstein, Nadav Davidovitch, Paul Lombardo, & Charity Scott (Moderator), Saying "I'm Sorry": The Role of Apology in Public Health, 35 J.L. Med. & Ethics Supp. 134 (2007).
Paul A. Lombardo & Gregory M. Dorr, Eugenics, Medical Education and the Public Health Service: Another Perspective on the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, 80 Bull. Hist. Med. 291 (2006).
Angelique M. Reitsma, Michael L. Closen, Marshall Cunningham, Henry N. F. Minich, Jonathan D. Moreno, Ronald L. Nichols, Richard D. Pearson, Robert G. Sawyer, Brian Wispelwey, Patricia M. Tereskerz, & Paul A. Lombardo, Infected Physicians & Invasive Procedures: Safe Practice Management, 40 Clinical Infectious Diseases 1665 (2005).
Paul A. Lombardo, Phantom Tumors & Hysterical Women: Revising Our View of the Schloendorff Case, 33 J.L. Med. & Ethics 791 (2005).
Paul A. Lombardo, In Memoriam: John C. Fletcher (1931-2004), 32 J.L. Med. & Ethics 538 (2004).
Paul A. Lombardo, Facing Carrie Buck, Hastings Center Rep., March-April 2003, at 14.
Paul A. Lombardo, Pioneer's Big Lie, 66 Alb. L. Rev. 1125 (2003).
Paul A. Lombardo, Taking Eugenics Seriously: Three Generations of ??? Are Enough?, 30 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 191 (2003).
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 347 New Eng. J. Med. 1537 (2002) (reviewing Nicholas Wright Gillham, A Life of Sir Francis Galton: From African Exploration to the Birth of Eugenics (2001)).
Paul A. Lombardo, "The American Breed": Nazi Eugenics and the Origin of the Pioneer Fund, 65 Alb. L. Rev. 743 (2002).
Paul A. Lombardo, Pedigrees, Propaganda, Paranoia: Family Studies in a Historical Context, 21 J. Continuing Educ. Health Prof. 247 (2001).
Paul A. Lombardo, Carrie Buck's Pedigree, 138 J. Laboratory & Clinical Med. 278 (2001).
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 75 Bull. Hist. Med. 616 (2001) (reviewing Susan M. Reverby, Tuskegee's Truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (2000)).
Paul A. Lombardo, Substance Abuse Treatment Records: A Special Corner of Medical Privacy, Va. B. Ass'n News J., Oct. 2000.
Paul A. Lombardo, New Faces on the IRB: Who Speaks for Subjects?, BioLaw, Sept.-Oct. 1999, at S:428.
Sally A. Webb, Mary Faith Marshall & Paul A. Lombardo, Eugenics in the South: The Carrie Buck Case, J.S.C. Med. Ass'n, Sept. 1998, at 389.
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 24 Religious Stud. Rev. 279 (1998) (reviewing Winfried Schleiner, Medical Ethics in the Renaissance (1997)).
Paul A. Lombardo, New Virginia Medical Records Law Helps Physicians and Patients, Med. Soc'y Va. News, Dec. 1997, at 1.
Paul A. Lombardo, The Virginia Health Records Privacy Act of 1997, Va. B. Ass'n J., Fall 1997, at 25.
Paul A. Lombardo, Kansas v. Hendricks & Civil Commitment of Sexual Predators: Bad Medicine, Bad Policy, U. Hous. Health L. News, Sept. 1997, at 3.
Jeanne Franklin, Paul Lombardo, & Susan Ward, New Medical Records Law, Va. Hosp. & Healthcare Ass'n Rev., Sept. 1997, at 10.
Paul A. Lombardo, Eugenics at the Movies, 27.2 Hasting Ctr. Rep. 43 (1997)
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, Eugenics at the Movies, Hastings Center Rep., March-April 1997, at 43 (reviewing Martin S. Pernick, The Black Stork: Eugenics and the Death of 'Defective' Babies in American Medicine and Motion Pictures Since 1915 (1996)).
JoAnn Pinkerton et al., Parental Rights at the Birth of a Near-Viable Infant: Conflicting Perspectives, 177 Am. J. Obstetrics & Gynecology 283 (1997).
Paul A. Lombardo, The Virginia Patient Health Records Privacy Act of 1997, 17 Dev. Mental Health L. 23 (1997).
Paul A. Lombardo, The Newest Federal Privilege: Jaffee v. Redmond and the Protection of Psychotherapeutic Confidentiality, BioLaw, Nov. 1996, at S:201.
Paul A. Lombardo, Crime/Genetics Conference Rekindles Controversy over Genetic Determinism, BioLaw, Jan. 1996, at U:15.
Paul A. Lombardo, Medicine, Eugenics and the Supreme Court: From Coercive Sterilization to Reproductive Freedom, 13 J. Contemp. Health L. & Pol'y 1 (1996).
Paul A. Lombardo, An Argument for Limiting the Ability of Proxies to Consent to Participation in Medical Research for Incapacitated Patients, Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsl., Fall 1995, at 5.
Paul A. Lombardo, Legal Rights Medical Remedies, 1 Va. J. of Soc. Pol'y & the L. 477 (1994)
Paul A. Lombardo, Case Discussion: Comments from a Lawyer/Ethicist, Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsl., Spring 1994, at 6.
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, Legal Rights, Medical Remedies, 1 Va. J. Soc. Pol'y & L. 475 (1994) (reviewing Nan Hunter & William Rubenstein eds., AIDS Agenda: Emerging Issues in Civil Rights (1992)) and Scott Burris, Harlon L. Dalton & Judith L. Miller eds., AIDS Law Today: A New Guide for the Public (1993)).
Paul A. Lombardo, Family Ties and Due Process: Supreme Court to Review Kentucky's Law for Committing Mentally Retarded Adults, Dev. Mental Health L., July-Dec. 1992, at 35.
Paul A. Lombardo, Libido and the Law: Posner's Sex Education for Judges, BioLaw, July 1992, at S:849.
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, Mrs. Packard's Revenge, BioLaw, March-April 1992, at S:791 (reviewing Barbara Sapinsley, The Private War of Mrs. Packard (1991)).
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 17 J. Health Pol'y Pol. & L 967 (1992) (reviewing Rael Jean Isaac & Virginia C. Armat, Madness in the Streets: How Psychiatry & the Law Abandoned the Mentally Ill (1990)).
Paul A. Lombardo, Public Health or AIDS Hysteria?: Helms's Proposal, BioLaw, Dec. 1991, at S:681.
Paul A. Lombardo, Book Review, 11 Dev. Mental Health L. 35 (1998) (reviewing Barbara Sapinsley, Mrs. Packard's Revenge (1991).
Paul A. Lombardo, Settlement of Poe v. Lynchburg Ends Sterilization Era, Dev. Mental Health L., Jan.-June 1985, at 18.
Paul A. Lombardo, New Federal Nondiscrimination Regulations Define 'Qualified Handicapped Person', Dev. Mental Health L., July-Dec. 1984, at 20.
Paul A. Lombardo, Two Faces of Henry Adams: The 'Education' and the Letters, Ill. Q., Winter 1982, at 16.
Paul A. Lombardo, The Great Chain of Being and the Limits to the Machiavellian Cosmos, J. Thought, Spring 1982, at 37.
Paul A. Lombardo, Vita Activa Versus Vita Contemplativa in Petrarch and Salutati, 59 Italica 83 (1982).
Paul A. Lombardo, Amending the Virginia Transplant Law: Consent and 'Donations' From The Dead, Hastings Center Rep., Dec. 1981, at 9.
Karen Johnson, Donna Klepper, & Paul Lombardo, Outreach Graduate Nursing Education: Providing a Degree Option for the Working Nurse, 5 Issues in Higher Educ. 202 (Oct. 1981).
Paul A. Lombardo, Historic Echoes: Romantic Emphasis in Tocqueville's Democracy in America, J. Thought, Summer 1981, at 67.
Popular Press
Other
Eugenics: Lessons from a History Hiding in Plain Sight: Hearing Before California Senate Select Committee on Genetics, Genetic Technologies & Public Policy, Senate Publication 1217-S, (March 11, 2003).
Paul A. Lombardo, Contributing Editor, BioLaw - A Legal and Ethical Reporter on Medicine, Health Care, and Bioengineering, (1990-1998).
Developments in Mental Health Law, (Paul A. Lombardo ed., 1990-1998).
Paul A. Lombardo, Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia: Aubrey Strode and the Case of Buck v. Bell (1982) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia).