Dr. Maayan Sudai

Dr. Maayan Sudai is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Haifa and the Director of the Law and Policy Research Stream at Harvard University’s GenderSci Lab. Dr. Sudai holds both a Master’s and a Doctorate from Harvard Law School and was a student fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, as well as at the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Dr. Sudai’s research focuses on the intersections of law, science, and social movements, investigating the power dynamics within various legal contexts. Her scholarly work has been published in leading journals across multiple disciplines, including law and society (Law & Social Inquiry), legal history (Law & History Review), science and technology studies (Social Studies of Science), and top scientific and legal outlets (Science, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Yale Law Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Gender).

Dr. Sudai has received numerous accolades for her work, including the prestigious Dan David Prize for junior scholars (2018), an Israeli Science Foundation Grant (2020), and the Justice Cheshin Award for Academic Excellence in Law (2023). In 2024, she was appointed to the Israel Young Academy.

• Health Law
• Science & Technology studies (STS)
• Sex and Gender
• Queer theory
• Sport
• Evidence
• Social Movements

Selected Publications

• Maayan Sudai and Ido Katri, “Intersex, Trans and the Irrationality of Gender Affirming Care Bans” (forthcoming, 134 Yale Law Journal 2024).
• The Medico-Legalization of Sex in the Nineteenth-Century United States.” Law and History Review 41(4):745-771, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0738248023000366 (2023).
• Maayan Sudai, Alexander Borsa, Kelsey Ichikawa, Heather Shattuck-Heidorn, Helen Zhao, Sarah S. Richardson. “Law, policy, biology, and sex: Critical issues for researchers.” 376(6965) Science 802-804 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo1102 (2022).
• “A Woman and Now a Man”: The legitimation of sex-assignment surgery in The United States (1849–1886).” Social Studies of Science, 79-105, https://doi.org/10.1177/03063127211056891, (2021).
• Sex Ambiguity in Early Modern Common Law (1629-1787). 47(2) Law & Social Inquiry 478-513, https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2021.34 (2021).
• Toward a Functional Analysis of Sex in Federal Antidiscrimination Law 42(2) HARV. J.L. & GENDER (forthcoming, 2019).
• Revisiting the Limits of Professional Autonomy – The Intersex Rights Movement’s Path to Demedicalization, 41(1) HARV. J.L. & GENDER (2018).
• The Testosterone Rule- Constructing Fairness in Professional Sport, 4(1) LAW BIOSCI. 181 (2017).
• Changing Ethical Norms for DSD Management, THE LANCET DIABETES & ENDOCRINOLOGY (2017).
• Book Review: “Sex Itself” The Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal (2018).

• 2014- 2019 Harvard Law School, S.J.D.
• 2016-2017 Harvard Kennedy School, Fellow at the Program on Science, Technology and Society (STS).
• 2015-2016 Harvard Law School, Fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics.
• 2013-2014 Harvard Law School, LL.M (waived).
• 2012 University of Haifa, LL.B. Magna cum Laude, Faculty of Law; B.A., Asian Studies, Faculty of Humanities.

• Blog Interview: “RadioLab – Gonads: Dutee” (Aug, 2018).
• J.D. candidate awarded scholarship to study health activism from a legal perspective, Harvard Law Today (May 1, 2018).
• See my posts on the “Bill of Health” blog.
• GenderSci Lab member Maayan Sudai appointed Assistant Professor of Law and of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Haifa, GenderSci Lab, Harvard (August 2, 2019).
• Heather Shattuck-Heidorn, Marion Boulicault, and Maayan Sudai, “Ethical Oversight of GWAS Studies: Are We Doing Enough to Protect Communities?” Harvard GenderSci Lab (Dec 19, 2019).
• Helen Zhao, Alex Borsa, and Maayan Sudai, “The Complex Political Terrain of “Born this Way” in the Era of Big Data Genomics” Harvard GenderSci Lab (Dec 19, 2019).
• Maayan Sudai, “Bostock, the HHS Rule, and Legal Reliance on Biological Claims about Sex: An Analysis from the GenderSci Lab” Harvard GenderSci Lab (June 24, 2020).
• TV Interview: The Future of Gender Segregation in Sports, Channel 5 (Dec, 2020).
• Blog Interview: “Once a day: The Trans Swimmer” (Feb, 2022).
• Blog Interview: “Once a day: The Embryo Swap” (Oct, 2022).
• Maayan Sudai, “Certainty and Uncertainty in Trans-Intersex Science Politics” Bill of Health Blog, (2023).
• Blog Interview: “Hearsay from the Sidelines: The End of the Beginning (Jan, 2024).
• Interview to BBC News and DW news about Olympian boxer Imane Khelif (Aug, 2024).

• Appointed as a member of the Israel Young Academy (2024).
• Winner, Provost Award for a young researcher, the University of Haifa (2024).
• Winner, Justice Cheshin Award for academic excellence in the law (2023).
• Awarded Minerva End of Life Center (Tel Aviv University) 2 Years (2022).
• Awarded Israeli Science Foundation grant for four years (2021).
• Winner of the Kennedy, Knox, or Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, Harvard University (2018)
• Winner of the Dan David Prize for Bioethics for junior scholars (2018).
• The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning award for distinction in teaching, Harvard University (2018).
• Harvard Law School LGBTQ law Writing Prize (2017).
• Harvard Law School Irving Oberman Memorial Award in the field of Law and Social Change Writing Prize (2017).
• Winner of the E. David Fischman Scholarship (2013-2019).