Kimani Paul-Emile

Kimani Paul-Emile

Visiting Professor of Law

Kimani Paul-Emile is a Professor of Law and the Robert L. Levine Distinguished Research Scholar at Fordham University School of Law. She is also Associate Director of Fordham Law School's Center on Race, Law & Justice, and faculty co-director of the Fordham Law School Stein Center for Law & Ethics. Dr. Paul-Emile specializes in the areas of law & biomedical ethics, health law, anti-discrimination law, race and the law, and law and society.

Dr. Paul-Emile's award-winning scholarship has been published widely in such journals as the Virginia Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, UCLA Law Review, George Washington Law Review, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA), and Annals of Internal Medicine, among others. Her co-authored article, "Patient and Trainee Experiences with Patient Bias," won the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation’s 2019 John Benson Professionalism Article Prize. For her article, "Blackness as Disability?," Dr. Paul-Emile received the Law and Society Association’s 2019 John Hope Franklin Prize, awarded for exceptional scholarship in the field of Race, Racism and the Law.” Her co-authored article, "Dealing with Racist Patients," has been viewed over 158,000 times, placing it in the 97th percentile of articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and 99th percentile of other medical journals. Dr. Paul-Emile’s scholarship has appeared in or been covered by national and international news organizations and other outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, National Public Radio, CBS News, MSNBC, CNN, Newsweek, and The Guardian.

In 2022, Dr. Paul-Emile was awarded an honorary doctorate from Drew University. In 2020, she was selected to serve as a Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) Fellow at Princeton University for the 2020-2021 academic year. Dr. Paul-Emile is also currently a member of the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. In 2017, Dr. Paul-Emile was awarded a Making a Difference in Real World Bioethics Dilemmas Grant by the Greenwall Foundation for 2017-2019; and in 2013, the foundation chose her to receive a Faculty Scholars Award in Bioethics: an award intended to enable outstanding junior faculty members to conduct original research to help resolve important policy and clinical dilemmas at the intersection of ethics and the life sciences. In 2012, she was awarded a Public Health Law Research Grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s leading philanthropy on health and health care.

Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Dr. Paul-Emile served as associate counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, and practiced civil rights law at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where she was a National Association for Public Interest Law (now Equal Justice Works) Fellow and later the William Moses Kunstler Fellow for Racial Justice. She also served as senior faculty development consultant at the New York University Center for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Paul-Emile holds an AB degree in Political Science and in American Civilization, with honors, from Brown University; a JD from Georgetown University Law Center; and a PhD in American Studies from New York University.

Education

New York University

PhD, American Studies

Georgetown University Law Center

JD

Brown University

BA, in American Civilization (with Honors); Political Science

Experience

Fordham University School of Law

Professor, 2013-present
Associate Professor, 2007-2013  
Robert L. Levine Distinguished Research Scholar
Associate Director, Center on Race, Law & Justice
Faculty Co-Director, Stein Center for Law & Ethics

University of Chicago School of Law

Visiting Professor, Fall 2023

 

Invited Presentations

  • 29th Annual Shallenberger Lecture, Johns Hopkins University (May 16, 2023)
  • The Real War on Drugs: Battles Over Drug Regulation and How They Changed America, Faculty Workshop, William & Mary (April 13, 2023)
  • Commencement Speaker, Drew University (2022)
  • Discriminatory Patient Behavior Webinar, Healthcare Association of New York State (2022)
  • Health Care Equity, Educational Video, Georgia State University College of Law Bioethics (2022)
  • Framing Drugs: Bioethics Workshop, University of Pennsylvania (2022); Faculty Workshop, Ohio State Faculty Workshop (2022); Faculty Workshop, University of Iowa School of Law (2022); Faculty Workshop, University of Pittsburgh School of Law (2022); Faculty Workshop, New York Law School (2022)
  • Addressing Bias Toward Healthcare Workers: Recommendations for Medical Centers: Guest Lecture, Brown University Medical School (Sept. 9, 2022); Health Care Equity, Healthcare Association of New York State (May 19, 2022); Lecture, New York State Academy of Pediatrics (2022); Grand Rounds, Dept. of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic (2022); Grand Rounds, Anesthesiology, Englewood Hospital (2022); Grand Rounds, Guelph General Hospital; Ontario Canada (2022); Gran Rounds, Mount Sinai Hospital, Department of General Surgery, Toronto, CA (2022); Grand Rounds, Dept. of Medicine, Englewood Hospital (2021); Lecture, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University (2021); Lecture, Stanford University Center for Bioethics Invited Speaker Series (2021); Grand Rounds, Marshall University Hospital (2020); Grand Rounds, Northwell Health, Department of Internal Medicine (2020); Grand Rounds, Boston University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry (2020); Lecture, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University (2020); Grand Rounds, Lincoln Hospital and Mental Health Center, Department of Internal Medicine (2019)
  • A Patient’s Demand Crosses A Line. How Should the Nurse Respond?, Educational Video, Regis College (2021)
  • Discrimination in Health Care, Educational Video Med-IQ (2021)
  • Hot Topics in Health Law & Bioethics, Plenary Speaker, Health Law Professors Conference, American Society of Law Medicine and Ethics (2021)
  • Jay Healey Pedagogy Panel, American Society of Law Medicine and Ethics (2021)
  • Skimmed Milk: Reflections on Race, Health, and What Families Tell Us About Structural Racism, California Western Law Review Symposium (2021)
  • Americans on Drugs: Six Drugs, Three Regimes, and the Making of the American Drug User: Law & Public Affairs Program, School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University (2021); Faculty Workshop, UCLA Health Law and Policy Workshop (2021); Health Law Roundtable, Northeastern University School of Law (2020); Lecture, Health Law Workshop, Harvard Law School (2019); Workshop presentation, Empirical Research and Critical Race Theory Conference, Boston University School of Law (2019); Panel speaker, Law, Difference, and Healthcare: Making Sense of Structural Racism in Medico-Legal History, Princeton University (2019)
  • Covid and the “Essential” Yet Underappreciated Frontline Worker, Speaker, Understanding the Role of Race in Health, Petrie Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School (2020)
  • Covid, Race, and Healthcare Ghost Workers, Speaker, Seeing Tech Work: Conversations with the authors of Ghost Work, McGannon Center, Fordham University School of Law (2020)
  • Physician and Trainee Experiences with Patient Bias, Speaker, Hot Topics for In-House Counsel at Health Care Institutions, University of Maryland Carey School of Law (2019)
  • Dealing with Racist Patients: Lecture, Koppaka Family Foundation Lecture in the Medical Humanities, University of Virginia School of Medicine (2019); Lecture, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University (2019); Lecture, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine (2019); Lecture, Health Sciences Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity Lecture Series, University of California at Irvine College of Health Sciences (2019); Grand Rounds, Montefiore Hospital, Dept. of Medicine (2019); Lecture, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University (2018); Grand Rounds, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (2018); Lecture, Treuman Katz Annual Bioethics Conference, Seattle Children’s Hospital (2018); Lecture, UCLA Health, Ethics Center, University of California, Los Angeles (2018); Grand Rounds, Callen-Lorde Health Center (2018); Grand Rounds, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Dept of Medicine (2018); Grand Rounds, Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York (Jan. 2018); Grand Rounds, New York University School of Medicine, Dept. of Emergency Medicine (2018); Grand Rounds, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Department of Medical Education (2017); Lecture, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University (2017); Grand Rounds, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Department of Medicine (2017); Grand Rounds, University of California, San Francisco, Department of Medicine (2017); Grand Rounds, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Department of Pediatrics (2017); Grand Rounds, Yale University New Haven Hospital (2017); Grand Rounds, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Department of Medicine (2016); Lecture, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (2016); Grand Rounds, Northwell Health, Department of Medicine (2016)
  • Blackness as Disability?: Faculty workshop speaker, University of Connecticut School of Law (2017); Faculty workshop speaker, University of California Los Angeles Law School (2016); Faculty workshop speaker, Fordham University School of Law (2016)
  • Beyond Title VII: Race, Ex-Offender Status, and Employment Discrimination in the Information Age: Lecture, Valente Center for the Arts and Sciences and the Department of Law & Taxation, Bentley University (March 2015); Faculty workshop speaker, Drexel University School of Law (2014); Faculty workshop speaker, Seton Hall University School of Law (2014); Panel speaker, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School (2013)
  • Patients’ Racial Preferences and the Medical Culture of Accommodation: Lecture, Health Law Colloquium, Harvard Law School (2013); Lecture, Health Policy Seminar, NYU School of Law (2013); Faculty workshop speaker, Fordham University School of Law (2013)
  • Health Policy, Genetic Science, and the Meaning of Race, Lecture, Health Policy Seminar, New York University School of Law (2011)
  • The Regulation of Race in Science, Faculty workshop, Fordham University School of Law (2011)
  • Making Sense of Drug Regulation: A Theory of Law for Drug Control Policy: Speaker, “Health Law Scholars’ Workshop,” American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics; and the St. Louis University Law School Center for Health Law Studies (2009)
  • Defining the Dream: Health Care as a Civil Right, Human Right, or Market Commodity, Invited lecture, Dr. Martin Luther King Commemoration, DePaul University College of Law (2009)

Panel Presentations and Conference Papers and Moderatorships

  • Author Meets Reader - Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice, Panel Speaker, Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association (2021)
  • Americans on Drugs: Six Drugs, Three Regimes, and the Making of the American Drug User, Panel Speaker, Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Washington, DC (2019)
  • The Past, Present, and Future of eCRT (empirical studies and critical race theory), Discussant, Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Toronto, CA (2018)
  • Blackness as Disability?: Panel speaker, Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Mexico City (2017); Panel speaker, Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, New Orleans, LA (2016)
  • Loving v. Virginia’s New Interracial Frontier: Risk, Race, and Assisted Reproductive Technology: Panel speaker, “Fifty Years of Loving v. Virginia and the Continued Pursuit of Racial Equality,” Symposium, Fordham Univ. School of Law (2017); Panel speaker, Center on Race, Law & Justice, Fordham University (2016)
  • Launch of the Center on Race, Law and Justice, Panel Speaker, Fordham University School of Law
  • Dismantling the Architecture of Race Discrimination: Lessons from the ADA, Panel Speaker, “The Present and Future of Civil Rights Movements: Race and Reform in 21st Century America,” Duke University School of Law (2015)
  • The Cost of Race: Risk, Race, and Reproduction, Panel Speaker, Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Seattle, WA (2015)
  • Author Meets Panel Discussion of Osagie K. Obasogie's book, Blinded by Sight, Discussant, Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Seattle, WA (2015)
  • Reconsidering Criminal Background Checks: Race, Gender, and Redemption, Panel Speaker, “Rethinking Race,” Symposium, University of Southern California, Department of Sociology and Gould School of Law (2015)
  • Risk, Race & Regulation, Panel Speaker, Fordham Law CRT/Empirical Methods Conference, November (2014)
  • Beyond Title VII: Race, Ex-Offender Status, and Employment Discrimination in the Information Age: Panel speaker, “Reframing the Welfare Queen: Work, Privacy and Reproductive Freedom,” Symposium, University of Southern California, Gould School of Law (2015); Panel speaker, “Title VII at 50,” Symposium, St. John’s University School of Law and New York University Center for Labor and Employment Law (2014); Panel speaker, “Challenging Punishment: Race, Public Health, and the War on Drugs,” Symposium, Columbia Law School (2013); Panel speaker, Annual Conference of the Law & Society Association, Boston, MA (2013); Panel speaker, Critical Race Theory & Empirical Methods Workshop, University of Iowa Law School (2013)
  • Patients’ Racial Preferences and the Medical Culture of Accommodation, Panel Speaker, Annual Conference of the Law & Society Association, Honolulu, HI (2012)
  • Do We Have a Constitutional Right to Medical Care?, Moderator, Health Care and the Constitution Symposium, Fordham University School of Law (2012)
  • Race & Biomedical Research, Discussant, Critical Race Theory and Empirical Methods Working Group, University of California, Irvine School of Law (2012)
  • “Racial Pragmatism” and The Regulation of Race in Science, Panel Speaker, Critical Race Theory and Empirical Methods Working Group, University of California, Hastings College of Law (2011)
  • The Regulation of Race in Science, Panel Speaker, Annual Conference of the Law & Society Association, San Francisco, CA (2011)
  • Genetic Science and the Legal Reification of Race, Panel Speaker, Northeast Law & Society Conference, Amherst, MA (2010)
  • Black by Law: Genetic Science and the Legal Reification of Race in Post-Racial America, Panel Speaker, Annual Conference of the Law & Society Association, Chicago, IL (2010)
  • Making Sense of Drug Regulation: A Theory of Law for Drug Control Policy: Panel speaker, Law & Society Association Early Career Workshop, Law & Society Association, Denver, CO (2009); Panel speaker, Annual Conference of the Law & Society Association, Denver, CO (2009)
  • Drug Regulatory Regimes and the Reification of Race, Paradoxes of Race, Law & Inequality in the United States, Panel Speaker, Symposium, University of California at Irvine, CA (2008)
  • Drug Regulatory Regimes and the Art of Governance, Panel Speaker, Annual Conference of the Law & Society Association, Baltimore, MD (2006)
  • The Regulation of Drugs in the Name of Public Health: Substance or Abuse? Panel Speaker, Graduate Student Workshop, Annual Conference of the Law & Society Association, Las Vegas, NV (2005)
  • Maternal Drug Addiction and Disciplinary Normalization, Panel Speaker, Annual Convention of the American Studies Association, Hartford, CO (2003)
  • The Dangerous Dichotomy: Illicit Drug Regulation and Neoliberal Governance of the Body, Panel Speaker, Nat’l Research Council and Ford Foundation Conference of Ford Fellows, San Juan, PR (2003)

 

Memberships and Professional Affiliations

  • Member, Committee on Science, Technology, and Law; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2020-present)
  • Member, Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholars (2013-present)
  • Critical Race Theory and Empirical Methods Working Group
  • Law and Society Association
  • Working Group on Critical Theory and Health Sciences

Service

  • Associate Director and Head of Domestic Programs and Initiatives, Center on Race, Law & Justice, Fordham University School of Law (2015-present)
  • Faculty Co-Director, Stein Center for Law & Ethics, Fordham University School of Law (2015-present)
  • Member, Committee to develop Master of Science degree in Health Administration, Fordham University (2014-2017)
  • Chair, Law & Society Association Article Prize Committee (2013-2014)
  • Member, Law & Society Association Nominations Committee (2011-2012)
  • Member, Institutional Review Board, Fordham University (2009-2010)
  • Member, Law & Society Association Diversity Committee (2009-2011)
  • Member, Stein Faculty Board of Advisors & Mentors, Fordham University School of Law (2007-present)

Honors and Awards

  • Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary doctorate), Drew University (2022)
  • Law and Public Affairs Fellowship, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University (2020-2021)
  • John Benson Professionalism Article Prize, American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation (2019) for Physician and Trainee Experiences with Patient Bias (co-authored) JAMA Internal Medicine 2019;179(12):1678-1685 (peer reviewed). In recognition of “outstanding contributions to the growing body of peer-reviewed journal articles that document the impact of medical professionalism on improving health care.”
  • John Hope Franklin Prize, Law & Society Association (2019) for Blackness as Disability? 106 GEO. L.J.  293 (2018). In recognition of “exceptional scholarship in the field of Race, Racism and the Law”
  • Dean’s Distinguished Research Award, Fordham University School of Law (2018-2019)
  • Making a Difference in Real-World Bioethics Dilemmas Award, Greenwall Foundation (2017-2019)
  • Collins Fund Research Award, Fordham University (2008-2019)
  • Faculty Scholars Award in Bioethics, Greenwall Foundation (2013-2018)
  • Summer Research Fellowship Grant, Fordham University (2008-present)
  • Research Fellowship, Fordham University (Fall 2010, Fall 2015, Fall 2020)
  • Lawyers of Color “50 Under 50” List (2014)
  • Public Health Law Research Award, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2011-2013)
  • Health Law Scholar, American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics and the St. Louis University Law School Center for Health Law Studies (2010). One of four Health Law Scholars selected by a nation-wide committee of senior health law faculty through a competitive, blind scholarship review process.
  • Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, National Research Council (2001-2004)
  • New York University Dean’s Fellowship, New York University (2000-2005)
  • Henry M. MacCracken Fellowship, NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science (2000-2005)
  • William Moses Kunstler Fellowship for Racial Justice, Center for Constitutional Rights (1998)
  • Equal Justice Fellowship, National Association for Public Interest Law (now “Equal Justice Works”) (1996-1999)