Dr Sabrina Germain

Overview

Dr Sabrina Germain is a Senior Lecturer at the City Law School. She is the co-coordinator of the Centre for Law & Social Change and a member of City University’s Centre for Healthcare Innovation Research (CHIR). She is also the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Conference co-convenor of the Health Law section and a trustee on the Socio-Legal Studies Association's (SLSA) board.

Dr Germain’s research interests are in the field of healthcare law and policy and bioethics. She focuses on questions of distributive justice (resource allocation and access to healthcare services) and the role of medical professionals in the healthcare law making process.

Her monograph Justice and Profit in Health Care Law (Hart, 2019) is a comparative study that puts forward the influence of justice principles and for-profit actors (the medical profession, employers and insurers) on the development of laws to allocate healthcare resources in western welfare states.

Her current research projects include a study on 1) the role of medical professionals in shaping healthcare law during COVID-19 in England, 2) a comparative project on the role of the medical profession in Canadian and British healthcare reforms, 3) an analysis of inequalities in access to healthcare for ethnic minorities and migrant women during the COVID-19 pandemic with Dr Adrienne Yong (City), and 4) an impact project on the access and implementation of reproductive rights in Nepal with Emily Allbon (City) and Dr Mara Malagodi (CUHK).

Dr Germain has recently been called on to comment on the emergency measures put in place to preserve the NHS during the first peak of COVID-19 infections in the UK. On several occasions she has also contributed to specialised articles in Al Jazeera (English), The Times (London), The Conversation (UK) and has been interviewed live on TRT world news.

At City, she convenes the medical law and bioethics module and teaches tort law. In 2019, Oxford University Press awarded her the Law Teacher of the Year Prize. Dr Germain is also the GE LLB Programme Director, a member of the Race and Equality Charter Group and a member of the Gender Equality Working Group.

Prior to City, Dr Germain was a lecturer in Law and Public Policy at the University of Surrey and held visiting scholarships at the University of Cambridge, University of Cape Town and Brooklyn Law School. Dr Germain is admitted to the practice of law in the State of New York and has worked as a transactional lawyer in an international law firm.

Qualifications

1. JSD, Cornell University, United States
2. LL.M., Cornell University, United States
3. DESS Master in Economic Law and Market Regulation, Sciences Po, France
4. Bachelor of Arts, McGill University, Canada
5. Fellowship, Higher Education Academy
6. New York Bar, New York State Bar, United States

Employment

1. Senior Lecturer, City University London, Aug 2019 – present
2. Lecturer, City University London, London, Aug 2017 – Jul 2019
3. Lecturer, University of Surrey, Guildford, Jan 2016 – Aug 2017
4. Visiting Scholar and Guest Lecturer, Brooklyn Law School, Oct 2014 – Feb 2015
5. Visiting Researcher, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Jan 2012 – Sep 2014
6. Visiting Scholar, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Oct – Dec 2011

Award

1. Oxford University Press (2019) Law Teacher of the Year

Languages

French (can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review).

Expertise

Geographic Areas

• Americas - North
• Europe

Health care resources allocation; Comparative law and public policy; Public health care law

Publications by category