Lawrence O. Gostin

he day after the first anthrax case was reported in October 2001, Lawrence Gostin received a call from Gene Matthews, legal adviser to the Health and Human Services Department's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gostin agreed to the CDC's request to write a model emergency-powers act that states could use to develop their own bioterrorism response plans. Gostin, a leading authority on civil rights, addressed such difficult questions as when to declare a quarantine and who would give the go-ahead; when potentially contaminated property should be confiscated; and how to take over homes and schools in order to isolate people who had been exposed.

So far, 36 states have passed bills that draw on Gostin's model, and England, Singapore, and other countries have used it to create their own national rules. Gostin is planning to work with the World Health Organization to develop an international model.

Gostin's book on public health law is considered definitive and is used in courses across the country. He's working on a biosecurity book to address the lack of security for laboratory specimens, as well as problems with international regulation of infectious diseases and prevention of bioterrorism.

A native of New York State, Gostin received an undergraduate degree in psychology from the State University of New York, and a law degree from Duke University. He has spent most of his career as a civil-liberties and human-rights advocate. In the 1980s, he headed the National Council for Civil Liberties in the United Kingdom, and during 1993 and 1994 he chaired the health-information privacy and public health sections of President Clinton's health care reform task force. Gostin, 54, acknowledges it's been tough to move from staunch defense of individual rights to a more balanced view. But, he said, "America is so focused on matters of rugged individualism and economic rights, that it's lost sight of the importance of civic duty and responsibility and the common good."