Ronald Daniels

Ronald J. Daniels is a law and economics scholar and the 14th President of Johns Hopkins University since 2009, holding appointments as Professor in the Department of Political Science since 2009 and Professor in the Department of International Health since 2014. He earned a BA with high distinction from the University of Toronto in 1982, a JD in 1986 from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law where he served as co-editor-in-chief of the Faculty of Law Review, and an LLM from Yale Law School in 1988. His earlier career at the University of Toronto spanned from Assistant Professor in 1988 to Associate Professor in 1993, Professor in 1999, and Dean and James M. Tory Professor of Law from 1995 to 2005. From 2005 to 2009, he served as Provost and Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. Daniels has also held visiting positions as John M. Olin Visiting Fellow at Cornell Law School in 1993 and Visiting Professor and Coca-Cola World Fellow at Yale Law School in 2003-2004.

Daniels specializes in the intersections of law, economics, development, and public policy, including corporate and securities law, social and economic regulation, and the role of legal institutions in promoting development in third-world countries. He has authored or edited eight books, such as What Universities Owe Democracy with Grant Shreve and Phillip Spector (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021), Rule of Law Reform and Development: Charting the Fragile Path of Progress with Michael J. Trebilcock (Elgar Press, 2008), On Risk and Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina edited with Donald F. Kettl and Howard Kunreuther (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), and Rethinking the Welfare State: Government by Voucher with Michael J. Trebilcock (Routledge, 2005). Among dozens of articles, notable works include A Generation at Risk: Young Investigators and the Future of the Biomedical Workforce in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2015) and The Political Economy of Rule of Law Reform in Developing Countries in Michigan Journal of International Law (2004). His honors include Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009), Fellow of the American Philosophical Society (2018), Member of the Order of Canada (2016), Carnegie Corporation of New York Academic Leadership Award (2015), and Doctor of Laws honoris causa from the University of Toronto (2014). Daniels chaired a congressionally mandated National Academies commission, resulting in a 2018 report on life sciences workforce challenges.