Patricia Williams
Published February 9, 2014
Updated April 21, 2021

Patricia Williams is a professor at Northeastern University’s law school and in the department of philosophy and religion. She is also director of Law, Technology and Ethics Initiatives in the School of Law and the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. Williams is an expert in bioethics, critical race theory, health law, gender, genetics, algorithms and other topics.

Williams began her law career as a consumer advocate and freelance journalist. She wrote a monthly column, Diary of a Mad Law Professor, for The Nation and blogs at madlawprofessor.wordpress.com. She is the author of several books, including The Alchemy of Race and Rights (1991) and Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race (1998). She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2000.

Expertise: Bioethics, civil and human rights, social justice, genetics, health law, critical race theory, gender, technology law

Location: Boston, Mass.

Email: p.williams@northeastern.edu

Heard on NPR: Tell Me More: Will Obama’s Presidency Change Perceptions Among Blacks?


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