Paul Godt was born in the suburbs of New York City in 1943. A Fulbright grant in 1970 brought him to France, where he taught at the University of Grenoble and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques. He later began teaching at the American University of Paris, where he is now professor of political science and served as dean of academic affairs, 1995–98. He holds research associate status at the Faculté Jean Monnet (Université de Paris-Sud). After undergraduate work at Bowdoin College (Maine, USA), and studied at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, he earned his MA and PhD from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, in New York City. His research focuses on French and European public policy issues, in particular, the comparative politics of health care reform in Europe. He edited and contributed to Policymaking in France: from de Gaulle to Mitterrand (1989).