
Michael Richard Ulrich, JD, MPH
Associate Professor, Health Law, Policy & Management - Boston University School of Public Health
Biography
Michael R. Ulrich is an Associate Professor of Health Law, Ethics, & Human Rights at Boston University’s School of Public Health and School of Law. His research focuses on the intersection of public health, constitutional law, bioethics, and social justice, with an emphasis on the role of law in the health outcomes of marginalized and underserved populations. Professor Ulrich’s scholarship has appeared in national and international journals, including the Stanford Law Review, New England Journal of Medicine, Hastings Law Journal, British Medical Journal, Cardozo Law Review, American Journal of Bioethics, SMU Law Review, Health Affairs, Yale Journal of Law & Feminism, American Journal of Law & Medicine, and the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, & Ethics. He also served as guest editor for an issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics on the Second Amendment and gun violence, and coauthored the leading casebook Public Health Law. Professor Ulrich’s research has received numerous awards and recognition, having been selected as a Public Law Junior Scholar by the American Constitution Society and a Health Law Scholar by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, and presented with the Translational Science Award by the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms. He has also been given multiple “Excellence in Teaching” awards for his work in the classroom.
Professor Ulrich has coauthored or been cited in amicus briefs at every level of the judiciary, including the United States Supreme Court, on the Second Amendment, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive justice, and contagious disease control. As an interdisciplinary scholar seeking to reach a wide range of audiences, Professor Ulrich has shared his expertise on television programs for ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, and NBC News; he has been a guest on NPR and several podcasts; and he has written for or been quoted or cited in publications such as the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, USA Today, NPR, Bloomberg Law, The Hill, and Slate. Professor Ulrich has appointments and affiliations with the Boston University Center for Health Law, Ethics, & Human Rights, the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Yale Law School Solomon Center for Health Law & Policy, while also serving as the Director for the Human Rights and Social Justice Certificate and as a member of the Boston University School of Law’s Health Law Program Committee.
Prior to joining Boston University, Professor Ulrich was a Research Scholar, Senior Fellow in Health Law, & Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, where he helped launch and run the Solomon Center for Health Law & Policy at Yale Law School with Faculty Director Abbe Gluck. He has also worked as a bioethicist in the Division of AIDS at the National Institutes of Health.
Education
- University of Maryland, JD Field of Study: Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights
- Harvard School of Public Health, MPH Field of Study: Public Health
- University of Maryland, BS Field of Study: Engineering
Classes Taught
- SPHLW854
- SPHLW952
- SPHPH719
- SPHPM931
Publications
- Published on 1/13/2025
Huberfeld N, Ulrich MR. United States v Skrmetti-Testing the Transition to Politicized Regulation of Medicine. JAMA. 2025 Jan 13. PMID: 39804743.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 11/12/2024
Ulrich MR. The Second Amendment's Second Sex. Yale Law Journal Forum. 2024; 134:125-57.
Read At: Custom
- Published on 11/5/2024
Huberfeld N, McCuskey E, Ulrich MR. The US Presidential Election's High Stakes for the Future of Medicine. JAMA. 2024 Nov 05; 332(17):1421-1422. PMID: 39302830.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 10/14/2024
Ulrich MR, Khanna A. Inclusivity as Fairness. Am J Bioeth. 2024 Nov; 24(11):30-32. PMID: 39401715.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 2/24/2024
Ulrich MR. Practicing Medicine in the Culture Wars - Gender-Affirming Care and the Battles over Clinician Autonomy. N Engl J Med. 2024 Feb 29; 390(9):779-781. PMID: 38407324.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 12/13/2023
Ulrich MR, Fowler LR. Continuous Reproductive Surveillance. J Law Med Ethics. 2023; 51(3):570-574. PMID: 38088592.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 11/10/2023
Martin R & Ulrich MR. Firearm Contagion: A New Look at History. Fordham Urban Law Journal. 2023; 51(1):279-98.
Read At: Custom
- Published on 10/25/2023
Fowler LR, Prince AER, Ulrich MR. The Limits of a Voluntary Framework in an Unethical Data Ecosystem. Am J Bioeth. 2023 Nov; 23(11):39-41. PMID: 37879008.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 7/28/2023
Ulrich MR. The Legal and Social Ramifications of Pandemics on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Vaccines, Masks, and Conceptions of Harm: The Future of Public Health Mandates. American Bar Association. 2023.
Read At: Custom
- Published on 6/1/2023
Fowler LR & Ulrich MR. Femtechnodystopia. Stanford Law Review. 2023; 75(6):1233-1313.
Read At: Custom
View 36 more publications:View Full Profile at BUMC
News & In the Media
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Published on February 19, 2025
Trump Says There Are ‘Two Sexes.’ Experts and Science Say It’s Not Binary
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Published on October 31, 2024
Why This Supreme Court Case on Trans Health Care Is “Really Dangerous” for All Americans
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Published on October 31, 2024
How the Supreme Court Case on Trans Youth Could Affect Health Care for All Americans
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Published on October 29, 2024
Massachusetts Grapples with Fallout from Landmark Supreme Court Gun Ruling
- Published on October 25, 2024
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Published on September 26, 2024
Project 2025 Could Become a ‘Political Reality That Would Upend Medical Practice’
- Published on February 2, 2024
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Published on January 4, 2024
Professor Edits Special Reproductive Justice Issue of Journal
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Published on December 8, 2023
The Political, Environmental, and Social Impact on US Life Expectancy
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Published on September 14, 2023
Yale Law School Holds Panel on Upcoming Second Amendment SCOTUS Case
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Published on August 1, 2023
HHS Urged to Wrap Transgender Care into Abortion Privacy Plan
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Published on May 11, 2023
Law on Vaccine Mandates Sparks Doubts for Response to Next Virus
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Published on April 10, 2023
Abortion Pill Control Lies with FDA as Court Fight Tests Agency
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Published on March 31, 2023
Obamacare Court Decision Hits Hardest for Low-Income Americans
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Published on January 30, 2023
Reproductive Rights Clash with Religious Ones in Abortion Wars
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Published on October 25, 2022
Abortion Bans Collide with Red States’ Liberty, Autonomy Stands
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Published on October 14, 2022
The Constitutional Right to Carry Firearms in Public Will Harm Public Health
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Published on September 14, 2022
Abortion Pill Maker Eyes Changed Judiciary as It Mulls New Suit
- Published on July 12, 2022
- Published on June 25, 2022
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Published on June 23, 2022
Supreme Court Ruling Likely to Impact Who Can Carry a Handgun in Massachusetts
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Published on May 27, 2022
‘The Desire for Power Should Never Be Put Ahead of the Lives of Citizens’
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Published on May 10, 2022
Should You Delete Your Period-Tracking App? Experts Explain the Privacy Risks
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Published on October 21, 2021
Mass General Brigham Employees Lose Bid to Halt Unpaid Leave Over Vaccine Mandate
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Published on October 15, 2021
812 Boston City Employees Placed on Unpaid Leave Over Vaccine Mandate
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Published on September 23, 2021
Massachusetts State Police Union Asks Judge to Delay Vaccine Mandate for Troopers
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Published on August 9, 2021
‘Enough Is Enough’: Frustration Fuels New Push for Vaccine Passports
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Published on June 25, 2021
State’s Largest Health Care Providers to Require All Employees Get COVID-19 Vaccines
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Published on April 15, 2021
“Vaccine Passports”: COVID-19 Protection or Discrimination Against BIPOC and the Poor?
- Published on April 9, 2021
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Published on April 9, 2021
“Vaccine Passports”: COVID-19 Protection or Discrimination against BIPOC and the Poor?
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Published on April 5, 2021
As a Public Health Threat, Mass Shootings Require Public Health Solutions
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Published on October 28, 2020
Young Adult Suicide Rate Linked to States’ Handgun Purchase Age Laws
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Published on August 3, 2020
Raising Legal Age for Handgun Sales to 21 Could Prevent Hundreds of Teen Suicides
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Published on April 2, 2020
Trump Backs Down on Quarantine after Cuomo Warns It Would Be ‘Declaration of War’
- Published on March 27, 2020
- Published on March 20, 2020
- Published on March 19, 2020
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Published on March 12, 2020
Would Italian-Style Lockdowns to Curtail the Spread of Coronavirus Pass Legal Muster in the U.S.?
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Published on October 15, 2019
Professor Presents Gun Violence Research at Health Law Workshop
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Published on February 4, 2019
New Court Documents Reveal OxyContin Manufacturer’s Marketing Tactics
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Published on January 24, 2019
Live Mural Tackles National Gun Violence at Isabella Stewart Gardner
- Published on June 14, 2018
- Published on June 8, 2018
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Published on June 7, 2018
What the Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision Means for Public Health and the Rule of Law
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Published on June 5, 2018
What the Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision Means for Public Health and the Rule of Law
- Published on March 15, 2018
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Published on December 13, 2017
PHX Develops Custom Program for Chinese Public Health Officials and Physicians
- Published on September 9, 2016