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Michael Waitzkin

Senior Lecturing Fellow in the Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Duke Science & Society
174 Sarvisberry Ln SW, Floyd, VA 24091

Overview


After more than 30 years of litigation experience in Washington, DC, Michael “Buz” Waitzkin joined the faculty at Duke University where he teaches courses on science law and policy, ethics, data use and privacy, federal regulation and other issues related to emerging technologies. He is the Deputy Director of the Initiative for Science & Society, Director of Graduate Studies for the Masters in Bioethics & Science Policy, a Core Faculty Member in the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy and has appointments as Senior Lecturing Fellow in both the Law School and Science & Society and Adjunct Faculty in the Medical School.


He is a co-founder and member of the board of Orbit Genomics, a start-up company developing and commercializing a genomic diagnostic technology, based on microsatellites, which others have discarded as “junk DNA”.

He practiced law in the District of Columbia for 35 years, where he handled complex commercial and criminal cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the country. He has extensive experience in advising the biomedical research community on issues relating to legal and regulatory strategy, product acquisition, exclusivity strategies, clinical research and ethics. He also served as Special Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office.

He attended the University of Virginia (BA 1971; Phi Beta Kappa, Echols Scholar), Stanford Law School (JD 1974) and Yale Law School (LLM 1975, Commonwealth Fellow in Law, Science and Medicine).

September 2019

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Senior Lecturing Fellow in the Duke Initiative for Science & Society · 2014 - Present Duke Science & Society, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units
Deputy Director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society · 2014 - Present Duke Science & Society, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units
Director of Graduate Studies of the Master of Arts in Bioethics and Science Policy · 2022 - Present Duke Science & Society, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units
MMCi Instructor in the Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics · 2022 - Present Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Division of Translational Biomedical, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Core Faculty Member, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy · 2024 - Present Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units

In the News


Published March 9, 2022
Defending Democracy (and Us!) From Big Tech
Published January 13, 2016
New Program Encourages Professors to Learn From Each Other
Published February 13, 2015
Duke Science & Society Hires Waitzkin as Deputy Director

View All News

Recent Grants


Title: NRT-FW-HTF: NSF Traineeship in the Advancement of Surgical Technologies

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEParticipants · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2021 - 2026

Duke Initiative for Science & Society - Science Policy Tracking Site project

Public ServiceCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by Mary Duke Biddle Foundation · 2017 - 2017

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Education, Training & Certifications


Yale University · 1975 LL.M.
Stanford University · 1974 J.D.
University of Virginia · 1971 B.A.