Profile

Ellen Wright Clayton, J.D., M.D., is an internationally respected leader and sought after speaker, focusing on protecting the interests of patients, families, and communities, particularly as they are affected by the conduct of research in genomics and artificial intelligence and their translation to clinical care as well as by broader social and legal factors that affect women and minorities.

An active participant in policy debates, Professor Clayton has advised the National Institutes of Health and other federal and international bodies on an array of topics ranging from women’s and children's health to the ethical conduct of research involving human subjects. Clayton has worked on numerous projects for the National Academy of Medicine, including serving as a member of its Advisory Council and chair of the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. For the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, she served for seven years as Co-Chair of its Report Review Committee and is currently a founding member of its Standing Committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society, which is addressing a host of issues post-Dobbs, and a member of its Committee on Science, Technology, and Law. She is an elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine, American Pediatric Society and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Medical Informatics.

She is currently co-principal investigator of a transdisciplinary Center for Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Research study addressing genomic privacy and co-investigator of two grants addressing ethical and legal issues raised by new developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning in health care. She recently completed another study analyzing legal issues in liability, quality, privacy, and access, and the clinical-research interface, all with the goal of developing more effective solutions. She has published two books and more than 300 scholarly articles and chapters in medical journals, interdisciplinary journals, and law journals on the intersection of law, medicine, and public health. She has also collaborated with faculty and students throughout Vanderbilt and in many institutions around the country and the world on interdisciplinary research projects and helped to develop policy statements for numerous national and international organizations. Her teaching interests include law and genomics, bioethics and law, reproductive rights, and public health and research ethics.

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