Herschel S. Nachlis
Research Asst Professor
Appointments
Senior Associate Director and Senior Policy Fellow, Rockefeller Center
Research Assistant Professor of Government
Area of Expertise
Public Policy: regulation and agencies; health politics, policy, and law; mental health; biomedical research,
Law: judicial policymaking, constitutional development,
American Politics: political institutions
Biography
Herschel Nachlis is Senior Associate Director and Senior Policy Fellow of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth, and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Government.
Office Hours: Fall 2025 Term, by appointent - please email with your afternoon availabilities on relevant Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
He studies and teaches public policy, American politics, and law, focusing on health policy, regulation, and political institutions. He received his PhD and MA in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University and BA in Political Science from Macalester College.
His work is published in journals including JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, Studies in American Political Development, the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, and Social Science & Medicine, and in public outlets including STAT, The Washington Post, and Health Affairs Forefront, and his media commentary on public health has appeared in outlets including Nature, Vox, and Newsweek.
In 2024, Nachlis was the Faculty Class Day Speaker for Dartmouth's Class of 2024. He has been an Academic Visitor at Nuffield College of the University of Oxford, his research has received the Robert C. Wood Paper Prize from the New England Political Science Association, and his teaching has received the George Kateb Prize from Princeton's Department of Politics. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Government at Franklin & Marshall College and a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center for Public Policy.
Education
Ph.D. Princeton University
M.A. Princeton University
B.A. Macalester College
Taught Courses
Publications
"Borrowing Regulatory Capacity in Middle-Income Countries during Public Health Crises: Brazil, Regulatory Reliance, and the Politics of COVD-19 Vaccine Regulation," Social Science & Medicine 365, January (2025), 117563, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117563 (with Elize Massard da Fonseca, Kyle Thomson, and Holly Jarman).
"Emergency Regulatory Procedures, Pharmaceutical Regulatory Politics, and the Political Economy of Vaccine Regulation in the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 49, no. 1 (2024): 73-98, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-10910278 (with Kyle Thomson).
"Alabama Realtors, Biden v. Missouri, and NFIB v. OSHA on the Pandemic Regulations," in SCOTUS 2022: Major Decisions and Developments of the U.S. Supreme Court, ed. Morgan Marietta (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).
Review of Deborah Stone, Counting: How We Use Numbers to Decide What Matters, Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 47, no. 5 (2022), DOI: 10.1215/03616878-9978145.
"The Supreme Court faces more pandemic questions this term. Here are 4 takeaways from last year's rulings," The Washington Post / Monkey Cage, September 24, 2021 (with Kyle Thomson, Amy Park, and Annika Begley).
"Watch this FDA hearing on Thursday. It'll help ease your Covid-19 anxieties," STAT, October 21, 2020.
"The FDA's Evolving COVID-19 Emergency Use Authorizations: How The Convalescent Plasma Authorization Can Inform Future Vaccine and Therapeutic EUAs," Health Affairs Forefront, October 20, 2020, DOI: 10.1377/forefront.20201016.659416.
"Emergency Use Authorizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons From Hydroxychloroquine for Vaccine Authorization and Approval," JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 324, no. 13 (2020): 1282-1283 (with Kyle Thomson).
"Crisis Governance, COVID-19, and American Policy History," Clio 29, no. 2 (2020): 6, 19-24.
"This is why the federal government has a hard time regulating prescription opioids," The Washington Post / Monkey Cage, January 13, 2019.
"Pockets of Weakness in Strong Institutions: Post-Marketing Regulation, Psychopharmaceutical Drugs, and Medical Autonomy, 1938-1982," Studies in American Political Development 32, no. 2 (2018): 257-291.
Review of David Vogel, The Politics of Precaution: Regulating Health, Safety, and Environmental Risks in Europe and the United States (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012), Law and Politics Book Review 23, no. 3 (2014): 135-140.
Selected Media
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republican-judge-issues-warning-trump-judicial…; target="_blank">"Republican Judge Issues Warning to Trump in Judicial Rebuke - 'Lawlessness,'"</a> <em>Newsweek</em>, 2025</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/abrego-garcia-facilitate-effectuate-return-sup…; target="_blank">"Facilitate vs. Effectuate: 10-Letter Words at Core of Constitutional Crisis,"</a> <em>Newsweek</em>, 2025 </p>
<p><a href="https://www.vox.com/23125407/covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-rates-young-kid…; target="_blank">"Just about everyone in America is finally eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine. Now what?"</a> <em>Vox</em>, 2022</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theregreview.org/2022/07/16/saturday-seminar-emergency-use-…; target="_blank">"Emergency Use or Overuse?"</a> <em>The Regulatory Review</em>, 2022</p>
<p><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/federal-judge-strikes-down-tsa-m…; target="_blank">"Federal Judge Strikes Down TSA Mask Mandate On Planes and Public Transit,"</a> <em>Healthline</em>, 2022</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/149077-new-research-highlights-eff…; target="_blank">"New Research Highlights Effect of COVID-19 on Contraceptive Care,"</a> <em>Contraceptive Technology Update</em>, 2022</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/12/16/vaccines-fda-cdc-boos…; target="_blank">"The Biden administration has been sidelining vaccine experts,"</a> <em>The Washington Post</em>, 2021</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/why-fda-hasnt-approved-pfizer-moderna-covid-va…; target="_blank">"Why the FDA Hasn't Approved a COVID Shot yet When Millions Are Vaccinated,"</a> <em>Newsweek</em>, 2021</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vox.com/21530401/remdesivir-approved-by-fda-covid-19-fda-gi…; target="_blank">"The FDA approved remdesivir to treat Covid-19. Scientists are questioning the evidence."</a> <em>Vox</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02706-6" target="_blank">"COVID-vaccine results are on the way — and scientists’ concerns are growing,"</a> <i>Nature</i>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2020/coronavirus…; target="_blank">"What Is Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments?"</a> <em>AARP</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/04-12-2020/siouxsie-wiles-britains-eme…; target="_blank">"Britain’s emergency rush to a vaccine rollout, explained,"</a> <em>The Spinoff</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/11/euas-are-e…; target="_blank">"EUAs are evolving for the better, expert writes,"</a> <em>Regulatory Focus</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/fda-releases-new-guidelines-for-… Releases New Guidelines for COVID-19 Vaccine Approval: What to Know,"</a> <em>Healthline</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/146932-lessons-learned-or-not-from…; target="_blank">"Lessons Learned — or Not — from Hydroxychloroquine Mishap,"</a> <em>IRB Advisor</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/146925-a-covid-19-vaccine-at-warp-…; target="_blank">"A COVID-19 Vaccine at ‘Warp Speed’ Raises Myriad Ethical Questions,"</a> <em>IRB Advisor</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/9-pharma-companies-join-to-relea…; target="_blank">"9 Pharma Companies Join to Release Open Letter Promising COVID-19 Vaccine Safety,"</a> <em>Healthline</em>, 2020</p>
<p><em>NHK Japan</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/coronavirus-vaccine-timeline-safet…; target="_blank">"We Will Not Have a Vaccine by November,"</a> <em>Slate</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://khn.org/morning-briefing/thursday-october-22-2020/" target="_blank">KHN Morning Briefing,</a> <em>KHN</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/anita-desikan/fda-publishes-new-covid-19-vaccin…; target="_blank">"A Win for Science and Transparency: FDA Publishes New, Strict COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines,"</a> <em>Union of Concerned Scientists</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-660/">"In case of emergency finish the trial,"</a> <em>This Week In Virology</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/researchers-suggest-improvements-to-…; target="_blank">"Researchers Suggest Improvements to FDA's Authorization, Approval Process Following EUA for Hydroxychloroquine,"</a> <em>Pharmacy Times</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/9/8/21419912/covid-19-vaccine-coronavirus-fda-…; target="_blank">"Covid-19 vaccine makers are pushing back against pressures to deliver by Election Day,"</a> <em>Vox</em>, 2020</p>
<p><a href="https://khn.org/morning-breakout/viewpoints-the-fda-isnt-up-to-the-task…; target="_blank">"Viewpoints: The FDA Isn’t Up To The Task Of Reining In The Opioid Epidemic,"</a> <em>KHN</em>, 2019</p>
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