The Public Health Law and Policy Program (PHLPP), part of the Center for Law, Science & Innovation, brings together scholars, practitioners, policymakers, students, and others to focus on critical issues at the intersection of law, ethics, policy, and the public's health. PHLPP also hosts the Western Region Office of the national Network for Public Health Law, a multi-year initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Western Region Office provides public health law technical assistance, training, and other guidance to practitioners in 11 Western states and on other topics nationally. RWJ Foundation has recently continued funding for the Western Region Office through March 15, 2015.
PHLPP also launched a Masters of Laws (LLM) in Public Health Law and Policy. This unique academic program is avaialable to JD candidates interested in studying core facets of public health law and policy through diverse, advanced coursework over 1-2 years. In June 2012, PHLPP conducted a review of colleagues teaching public health law (or similarly-titled courses) at schools of law, public health, and medicine in the United States. A PDF copy of the most current version of the Public Health Law Professors List and accompanying PowerPoint Illustration of the data are available. In follow-up, the Program surveyed colleagues about their public health law courses in October 2012. Initial survey results are available in the following PowerPoint document, Public Health Law Professor Survey - Results (as of November 14, 2012). Additional narrative analyses of these data were recently published in A modern survey on teaching public health law in the United States, featured in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics (JLME).
Among additional projects and issues in public health law and policy which faculty, students, and affiliated professionals at PHLPP are focused include:
Guided by a diverse group of faculty, scholars, fellows, and partners, PHLPP seeks to promote the role of law as a tool for improving the public's health by: