Robin Fretwell Wilson

Robin Fretwell Wilson is the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois College of Law. She holds appointments at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine in the Biomedical and Translational Sciences Department and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign in Pathology. A member of the American Law Institute, Professor Wilson is the founder of the Tolerance Means Dialogues and Fairness for All initiatives, both gift-funded projects to reframe the culture war as not-a-war-at-all. She co-directs the College of Law’s Epstein Health Law and Policy Program and founded and co-directs the Family Law and Policy Program. She specializes in law and religion, family law, and health law. Professor Wilson has led law-reform projects on same-sex marriage and gay rights, resulting in landmark legislation. More recently Professor Wilson has led a law-reform effort requiring specific consent to use patients to teach intimate exams in teaching settings. The laws are now in place in 18 states. Professor Wilson has published 13 books on family law, religious freedom, and health equity issues.

National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. 

K01 Award Grant Team, 2019 to Present.

Fulbright Specialist.

Roster Member on Civil Rights Complementarity, 2019 to Present. 

International Society of Family Law, Trinity College, Cambridge, England. 

Vice President, Newsletter Editor, Website Co-Editor (with Joanna Miles), 2017 to Present. 

Law and Religion Section, Association of American Law Schools, Washington D.C.

Chair, 2016 – Present. 

Member At Large, Executive Committee, 2014 – 2015. 

Family & Juvenile Law Section Association of American Law Schools, Washington D.C. 

Chair, 2008 – 2010.

Secretary-Treasurer, 2007 – 2008.

Member, Executive Committee, 2001 to Present.

Chair of the Mentoring Program, 2001 – 2006.

The International Society of Family Law, Trinity College, Cambridge, England. 

Elected to the Executive Council, 2014. 

Elected to the Executive Council for the Study of the Jurisprudence of the Family, 2012.

American Law Institute, Philadelphia, PA.

Elected in 2009. 

Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois System.

Director, 2020 to Present. 

Co-Lead of the Equity, Justice and Human Flourishing Working Group, 2021 to Present.

Lead of the Substance Use Disorder and Behavioral Health Working Group, 2019 – 2021.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Law, Champaign, Illinois.

Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law, 2020 to Present. 

Co-Director and Founder of the Family Law and Policy Program, 2020 to Present. Director, 2016 – 2020. 

Co-Director of the Epstein Program in Health Law and Policy, 2020 to Present. Director, 2016 – 2020. 

Director of the Fairness for All Initiative supported by the Templeton Religion Trust and the First Amendment Partnership, 2016 to Present. 

Director of the Tolerance Means Dialogues supported by directed gifts, 2016 to Present. 

Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law and Director, 2013 to 2020.

Associate Dean for Public Engagement, 2019 – 2020.

University of Illinois College of Medicine, Champaign, Illinois.  

Professor in the Department of Pathology, 2016 to Present. 

University of Illinois Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Urbana-Champaign, IL.

Founding Faculty Member of Genomic Security and Privacy Research Theme, 2019 to Present. 

Washington and Lee University School of Law, Lexington, Virginia.

Class of 1958 Law Alumni Professor of Law, 2009 – 2013.

Law Alumni Faculty Fellow, 2011 – 2012.

Professor of Law and Law Alumni Faculty Fellow, 2008 – 2009.

Professor of Law, 2007 – 2013.

University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland.

Professor of Law, 2006 – 2007.

Associate Professor of Law, 2004 – 2006.

University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina.

Associate Professor of Law, 2003 – 2004.

Assistant Professor of Law, 1998 – 2003. 

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE

University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, IL. 

Co-Director (with Professor David Hyman) of the Epstein Program in Health Law and Policy, 2016 to Present. Director, 2016 -2020. 

Director and Founder of the Family Law and Policy Program, 2014 to Present.

Washington and Lee University School of Law, Lexington, Virginia.

Director and Founder of the Johnson & Johnson Law and Medicine Colloquium Series,  2008 – 2013. 

University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina.

Director and Founder of the Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Law Lecture Series, 1999 – 2004.

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Texas.

1995 – 1996.

University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia, J.D., May 1995.

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, B.A. with Highest Distinction in Religious Studies and Biology, May 1989.