Dr Melinee Kazarian

Overview

Dr Melinee Kazarian joined Cardiff Law School in December 2023. Her research focuses on legal responses to medical accidents and systemic failings involving multiple victims, particularly in the areas of criminal and civil liability. She also examines reparation mechanisms for victims of medical harm. Employing a comparative law approach combined with qualitative methodologies, her work aims to propose improved solutions to enhance patient safety and access to compensation in healthcare settings. 

She has been principal investigator on several funded research projects exploring these issues, with particular attention to the rising costs of clinical negligence claims and the development of fair and efficient compensation schemes. Her work involves building partnerships with healthcare professionals, insurers, compensation bodies, and patient associations in the UK and abroad. She has collaborated with organisations such as the NHS, the Patient Claims Panel (Sweden), the Patient Insurance Association, and the Office National d'Indemnisation des Accidents Medicaux (France).

In 2018, Dr Kazarian was appointed as a medical ethics expert on the Infected Blood Inquiry (https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-01-13%20Expert%20groups%20with%20photos.pdf), where she advised on the ethical issues arising from the contaminated blood scandal and co-authored a report addressing these concerns. One of the key outcomes of the Inquiry was the recommendation and subsequent creation of a compensation scheme for the victims. 

She has extensive teaching experience in Tort Law, Criminal Law, Healthcare Law and Legal Methods. She currently co-leads the Tort Law module, and teaches on the LLM Legal Aspects of Medical Practice.