Director

Dr. Lisa Forman
Director, CPHS
Lupina Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, UT

Dr. Lisa Forman is the Lupina Assistant Professor in global health and human rights at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, with a cross-appointment to the Munk School of Global Affairs (to be initiated in 2010). She qualified as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa, with a BA and LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her graduate studies include a Masters in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University, and Doctorate in Juridical Science from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. Her doctoral dissertation explored the role of human rights in increasing access to AIDS medicines, focusing on South Africa as a case study. From 2007-2009, she completed postdoctoral research through fellowships with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Comparative Program on Health and Society. This research focused on the development of linkages between international human rights law and trade law related to medicines. In 2008-2009 she was associate director of the Collaborative Doctoral Program in Global Health at the University of Toronto.

For over a decade, Forman has specialized in international human rights law relating to HIV/AIDS, health and medicines. She is particularly interested in how human rights can influence trade-related intellectual property rights, and positively impact on access to affordable medicines including through the use of right to health impact assessment. Forman has acted as a consultant on human rights and health related topics for non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations including the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and South African National Commission for Gender Equality. She is the author of journal articles and book chapters on the international human right to health, access to medicines, trade-related intellectual property rights and South African constitutional jurisprudence related to health.

Email: lisa.forman@utoronto.ca