Announcements

Ten Faculty Fellowships Awarded to Promote Public Health Law Education

Official Press Release: Atlanta – Georgia State University College of Law and its Center for Law Health & Society have selected 10 faculty fellows to participate in the Future of Public Health Law Education: Faculty Fellowship Program. The program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to foster innovations and build a learning community…

Official Press Release:

Atlanta – Georgia State University College of Law and its Center for Law Health & Society have selected 10 faculty fellows to participate in the Future of Public Health Law Education: Faculty Fellowship Program. The program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to foster innovations and build a learning community among those who teach public health law at professional and graduate schools. For more information, visit law.gsu.edu/phlfellowship.

The fellows, chosen from across the country, will develop interdisciplinary courses and programs in public health law at their respective universities during the fellowship year. Their projects will strengthen interdisciplinary education in public health law and promote collaborations with public health agencies and organizations in the fellows’ communities.

The fellows are:

  • Micah Berman, J.D., assistant professor of public health and law at The Ohio State University College of Public Health and Moritz College of Law, will design a course focusing on updating local public health laws in preparing for public health accreditation.
  • Elizabeth Bjerke, J.D., assistant professor with the Department of Health Policy and Management, Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, will create a practice-based course related to preventive services under the Affordable Care Act.
  • Kimberly Cogdell Boies, J.D., M.P.H., associate professor of law and director of the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Law Institute at North Carolina Central University School of Law, will introduce two public health law courses using live and on-line teaching formats, develop externship opportunities in public health law.
  • Amy Campbell, J.D., M.B.E., associate professor of law and director of the Health Law Institute at University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, will develop a curriculum that includes a new public health law course, a policy practicum and new externship opportunities for law and public health students.   
  • Sarah Davis, J.D., M.P.A., clinical assistant professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Schools of Law, Medicine & Public Health, Nursing and Pharmacy, will create an online community learning space to complement students’ public health law externships at local and remote locations.
  • Robert Gatter, J.D., M.A., professor of law and co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies at Saint Louis University School of Law, will expand an existing course to include representatives of the state public health department, using case studies and a component on outcomes research in public health.
  • Jennifer Herbst, M.Bioethics, J.D., LL.M., assistant professor of law at Quinnipiac University School of Law, will offer a new course for law, medical, public health, nursing and business students that emphasizes teamwork and effective communication among the professions and group problem solving and advocacy skills.
  • Laura Hermer, J.D., LL.M., associate professor of law at Hamline University School of Law, will combine clinical work at a new medical-legal partnership with a new course examining the interrelationships between law, socioeconomic determinants of health and public health.
  • Heather McCabe, J.D., M.S.W., assistant professor at Indiana University School of Social Work and adjunct faculty at schools of law and public health at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, will create a course for students in law, social work and public health to build skills in public health law, policy and advocacy.
  • Elizabeth Tobin Tyler, J.D., M.A., clinical assistant professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown University School of Public Health and clinical assistant professor of family medicine at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School will introduce a course for medical and public health students at Brown as well as law students at the Roger Williams School of Law that will explore the role of law in preventing disease and injury.

Five nationally renowned faculty members will serve as mentors and were selected for their varied experience including expertise in health law and public health law, skill in building successful health law programs and their teaching and leadership abilities. The mentors are:

  • Mary Crossley, J.D., professor of law at University of Pittsburgh School of Law;
  • James Hodge, J.D., LL.M., Lincoln Professor of Health Law and Ethics and director of the Public Health Law & Policy Program at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law;
  • Kathleen Hoke, J.D., professor of law and director of the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy at University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law;
  • Ross Silverman, J.D., M.P.H., professor of health policy and management at Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis; and
  • Leslie Wolf, J.D., M.P.H., professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law.

In addition, Diane Hoffmann, J.D., M.S., professor of law and director of the Law and Health Care Program at University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, serves as a consultant to the fellows’ deans.

The fellows, their deans, mentors, distinguished public health practitioners and leading legal education experts will participate in an intensive 10-day summer institute in July in Park City, Utah, to kick off the program. The fellows and mentors will communicate regularly throughout the year as the fellows implement their curricular innovations.

“This fellowship program is an extraordinary opportunity to promote innovative teaching, create a supportive community of practice and share best practices in teaching public health law,” said Charity Scott, J.D., M.S.C.M., Catherine C. Henson Professor of Law and director of the Center for Law, Health & Society. Scott serves as the faculty lead for the fellowship program. “The fellows’ projects will serve as models for innovation in public health law education and the resources developed will be shared with other law and public health faculty nationally.”

“Seat-belt laws and restrictions on smoking in public places are great examples of how laws have improved public health. One way to build on past successes and bring new and fresh ideas to this field is to develop new ways of teaching public health law to the next generation of practitioners and policy makers,” according to Angie McGowan, J.D., M.P.H., senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

THE CENTER FOR LAW, HEALTH & SOCIETY

The Center for Law, Health & Society is consistently ranked among the top five health law programs in the nation. The center’s mission is to advance the key role that law plays in promoting society’s health and to prepare students for practice across a broad range of health law fields. Our distinguished faculty members are nationally recognized and deeply committed to cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary education. The center fosters engagement with our community through public programs on critical issues in health law, policy and ethics. For more information, visit lawandhealth.org.

Georgia State University College of Law

Georgia State University College of Law in downtown Atlanta has provided affordable and flexible legal education to full- and part-time students since 1982. The college enrolls nearly 700 students annually and offers experiential learning clinics, including the Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, the Investor Advocacy Clinic and the Health Law Partnership (HeLP) Clinic, which is part of the nation’s No. 3 health law program. Georgia State Law has been named a Best Value school by National Jurist magazine for seven consecutive years. For more information, visit law.gsu.edu.

THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has worked to improve the health and health care of all Americans. We are striving to build a national culture of health that will enable all Americans to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.

Contact:

Stacie Kershner, J.D.

Associate Director

Center for Law, Health & Society

Georgia State University College of Law

Skershner1@gsu.edu

404-413-9088