Health Systems and Population Health

Research Interests

Professor Sanford’s research interests focus on Affordable Care Act implementation, healthcare delivery systems, health administration law, Medicare and Medicaid, comparative healthcare law, public health law, and medical and administrative ethics.

Bio

Sallie Thieme Sanford, JD. is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Law, with an adjunct appointment in the School of Public Health, Department of Health Systems and Population Health. She received her B.A. with honors from Brown University and her J.D., Order of the Coif, from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Professor Sanford began her legal career as a law clerk for The Honorable Robert R. Beezer of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She then served as an Assistant Attorney General representing the University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, and the UW’s health sciences schools. Professor Sanford has been active on the board of the Washington State Society of Healthcare Attorneys, including service as its president.
Professor Sanford’s research interests focus on Affordable Care Act implementation, healthcare delivery systems, health administration law, Medicare and Medicaid, comparative healthcare law, public health law, and medical and administrative ethics. Professor Sanford’s recent scholarship includes: The Law of Healthcare Administration (10th ed. 2023) (with J. Stuart Showalter); Health Reform and Higher Ed: Campuses as Harbingers of Medicaid Universality and Medicare Commonality, 47 J.L. MED. & ETHICS, No. 4 Supp., Winter 2019, at 79-90; and Nobody Knew How Complicated: Constraining the President’s Power to (Re)Shape Health Reform, 45 AM. J.L. & MED. 106-129 (2019).

Professor Sanford has published several short, accessible articles about the Affordable Care Act and the litigation surrounding it. In addition, she has conducted funded research into law and policy reforms in support of HIV reduction in the Global South.

Education

JD University of California Los Angeles, 1991
BA Brown University, 1986

Academic Programs and Affiliations

• Master of Health Administration Program
• MPH Program in Health Systems and Population Health
• Executive Master of Health Administration Program