Prof. Dr. Dr. Erik Hahn
Prof. Dr. iur. habil. Dr. rer. medic. Erik Hahn is a legal scholar, full professor of law at Zittau/Görlitz University oAS, and a former judge. His research spans the broad field of health law—including medical law, mental health law, the law of health promotion and disease prevention, as well as guardianship and adult protection law—with particular interests in the digitalisation of health and social services and data protection. In social law, his work covers health-related benefits, basic security and other forms of income support, social law issues relating to housing, the European coordination of social security systems, social administrative law, and the legal frameworks relevant to social services, social professions, child and youth welfare, and vulnerable groups. Across these fields, he works from domestic, European, international, and comparative perspectives.
He currently holds the following positions:
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Professor of Law (Health Law and Social Law) at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences,
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Co-opted Professor at both the Faculty of Medicine "Carl Gustav Carus" and the Institute for International, Intellectual Property and Technology Law within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at TUD Dresden University of Technology,
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Research Affiliate at the Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences at the University of Cambridge,
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Visiting Professor of Law (European Health Law and Social Law) at the Faculty of Social Sciences (Department of Law) at Rīga Stradiņš University, and
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Council Member of the Görlitz Institute for Health, Ageing, Work and Technology.
Erik Hahn studied law at the Universities of Leipzig and Halle-Wittenberg (2003–2008) and received his doctorate from Leipzig University in 2010. After completing his legal clerkship, he joined the Saxon judiciary, serving first as a public prosecutor in Leipzig and later as a judge at the Dresden Social Court. In 2015, he was appointed Professor of Law at the North German University for the Judiciary in Hildesheim, and in 2016 he moved to his current position as Professor of Health Law and Social Law at the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz. In 2021, he completed a second doctorate at the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine at the Medical Faculty of TU Dresden, focusing on the historical foundations of medical law. He subsequently earned his habilitation in 2022 at the Faculty of Economics, Law and Society of BTU Cottbus–Senftenberg, receiving the venia legendi in public law — with a particular emphasis on medical and social law — as well as European law. In the same year, he was appointed as a part-time judge at the Saxon Higher Social Court of Appeal and joined Rīga Stradiņš University as a Visiting Professor. Until 2024, he also served as scientific director of the LL.M. master's programme in ‘Medical Law’ at Dresden International University (affiliated institute of TU Dresden).
Since 2025, Erik Hahn is co-opted professor at Technische Universität Dresden — both at the ‘Carl Gustav Carus’ Faculty of Medicine and at the Institute for International, Intellectual Property and Technology Law within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science — and also serves as a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences at the University of Cambridge. To date, he has authored more than 180 publications, including books, journal articles, book chapters, and edited volumes, and frequently presents at national and international conferences.
Erik Hahn has held visiting positions as professor, visiting scholar and fellow in several countries, including the United States (Harvard Law School), Italy (Università degli Studi Roma Tre), Latvia (Rīga Stradiņš University and Banku Augstskola), Greece (International Hellenic University), China (National Judges College of the People’s Republic of China) and the United Kingdom (University of Cambridge). He is a member of the European Institute of Social Security, the European Association of Health Law, the German Society for Medical Law, the German Society for Health Insurance Law, the German Social Law Association, the Leipzig Association for Medical Law, the ‘Ärzte und Juristen’ working group of the AWMF, the Ethics Commission of the Saxony State Medical Association, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Independent Patient Advice Foundation Germany (‘UPD’).
Staatsexamina I und II (Sachsen, beide mit Prädikat); Dr. iur. (Universität Leipzig, s.c.l.); Dr. rer. medic. (TU Dresden, m.c.l.); und Dr. iur. habil. (BTU Cottbus–Senftenberg).
Curriculum Vitae
Publikationen (FIS TUD)
Persönliche Website
ORCID