Interdisciplinary by nature
July 12, 2011
ATLANTA – In its search for new faculty, Georgia State University College of Law has taken a broad and wide-ranging approach as the law school continues to add a new generation of professors to its ranks.
A case in point is Yaniv Heled, who comes to Atlanta from New York City, where he’s been working as an intellectual property attorney while completing his J.S.D., the most advanced degree one can earn in the study of law, at Columbia University Law School. Heled is one of three new professors – along with Cassady Brewer and Ryan Rowberry – to join the law faculty this fall.
With his move to Georgia State, Heled, originally from a city outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, will set aside the practice of law to focus on his development as a scholar.
“I don’t want to say no to practicing in the future,” Heled says, “but I am very much looking forward to spending as much time as I can on teaching and research. Practicing, at this point, is going to be a lower priority.”
Heled, who specializes in intellectual property law with an emphasis on biotechnology, studied biology and law at Tel Aviv University and worked as a clerk and teaching assistant before coming to the U.S. to pursue advanced legal studies at Columbia. He was hired as part of the GSU’s Second Century Initiative, a program designed to build upon existing strengths of the university and accelerate collaborative faculty research. Initially he’ll be teaching an intellectual property survey course, a course on patent law and a seminar on law and emerging technologies; he is already anticipating future collaborations with other departments.
“My area of interest is interdisciplinary by nature – no pun intended,” Heled says. “My approach to law is through the area of biology, and I like to think of it like parachuting into a legal landscape: I find an interesting issue or topic that involves a development in biology or biomedical sciences – that’s the parachute – and then I let it carry me into the legal landscape. Wherever I land is the legal area I need to look further into.”
When Heled saw that this job falls under the Second Century Initiative, which supports the sort of interdisciplinary work he favors, he knew the position was ideally suited for him. Coming to Atlanta and Georgia State University was his first choice for other reasons as well: not only does he have family here, he’s also happy to return to warmer weather – Atlanta is on about the same latitude as his hometown of Tel Aviv.
“This was always my long-term goal, to make it to academia,” Heled says. “I feel very fortunate to have made it, especially to GSU.”
Contact:
Wendy Cromwell
Director of Communications
404.429.4650