Patricia Zettler, JD, associate professor of Law in the College of Law, has earned The Ohio State University 2023 Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award. Senior leadership in the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge surprised Zettler with the honor at a recent faculty meeting.
Patricia Zettler receives 2023 Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award
It’s a privilege to be your colleague,” said Zettler upon learning of her award. “It’s a joy to work at a place that has such tremendous support for our scholarship and interdisciplinary connections and that enables us to do impactful research.
Zettler is a nationally-recognized expert on food and drug law and policy. Her scholarship has appeared in leading legal, interdisciplinary and medical journals covering various topics including non-trial preapproval access, citizen science, stem cell interventions, opioids, cannabis products and tobacco and nicotine products. Since 2020, Zettler has worked on issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic response, authoring nearly a dozen publications related to COVID-19 countermeasures and serving as an expert on the topic in national media outlets. Zettler’s teaching areas include torts, legislation and regulation, health law, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and drug policy.
“Professor Zettler is a widely recognized expert on the FDA,” said Peter Mohler, interim executive vice president for research, innovation and knowledge. “Her ability to translate the intersection of healthcare, public policy and the law has earned her respect among peers and her analysis is featured in many of the most prestigious national media outlets.”
In the nomination letter, her colleagues stated, “…Zettler is a leading scholar of FDA law and policy, introducing creative new approaches in her field that are theoretically significant and pragmatically important. Professor Zettler’s scholarship and policy work have won the attention and admiration of fellow academics and policymakers, and has gained her wide recognition as an emerging leading voice in this field.”
“Patti defines the best of Ohio State and the best of Ohio State Law,” said Lincoln Davies, Dean and Frank R. Strong Chair in Law. “We are deeply proud to have her as a member of our community. Her scholarship exemplifies our aspirations, bringing multiple perspectives together in a way that is influential, thoughtful and field-defining.”
In addition to her appointment in the College of Law, Zettler is a member of the college’s Drug Enforcement & Policy Center and a member of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. Zettler serves on the Food and Drug Law Institute’s Board of Directors and co-chairs the International Society of Cell & Gene Therapy’s Committee on the Ethics of Cell and Gene Therapy, also chairing its subcommittee on expanded access to cell and gene therapy. Before joining the Ohio State in 2019, Zettler was a faculty member at Georgia State University College of Law, where she was recognized with the Patricia T. Morgan Award for Outstanding Scholarship. Prior to Georgia State, she was a fellow at the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford Law School. Zettler earned both her law degree and bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University.
The Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award is among the highest annual honors awarded at Ohio State. The university-level award honors three assistant professors and early associate professors who show promise of making significant contributions to Ohio State and their field for years to come.
Award recipients are nominated by their departments and chosen by a committee of senior faculty, including past award recipients. Distinguished Scholars receive an honorarium and a research grant to be used over the next three years. Learn more about previous Distinguished Scholar Award recipients.
Quotes from Zettler’s nomination:
“Perhaps the highest praise that I can give Professor Zettler is that if I had a question about FDA regulation of almost any emerging technology – from CRISPR to stem cells to synthetic nicotine to, more recently, COVID-19 vaccines or therapeutics – she is the first person to whom I would turn,”
- Aaron Levine, Georgia Tech
“I first worked with Patti as she began her teaching career at Georgia State University as she designed her first Food and Drug Law class. I was impressed as she designed the class so that students would learn both the law and how the law is used in practice. She deftly added in aspects of her own experience while working at FDA, but also understood how to make the class less of a “niche” expertise but one relevant to all types of law students,”
- Margaret Foster Riley, University of Virginia
“She knows FDA law inside and out, she understands the scientific and medical issues, and she can explain it all, clearly, to lay people. And that is a rare talent.”
- Henry T. Greely, Stanford University