Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health is pleased to announce funding awards to support the teaching of Public Health Law at U.S. schools of public health. Part of a CDC-funded initiative designed to improve capacity for local health departments and increase knowledge of law among the next cadre of public health graduates, the “Teaching Public Health Law in Accredited Schools and Programs of Public Health” project is led by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Faculty Magda Schaler-Haynes, JD, MPH, and Heather Krasna, PhD. The project is housed within The Center for Public Health Systems in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.
Three institutions will each receive a $10,000 award to support the development and teaching of a first-time course in Public Health Law for the 2025-2026 academic year. The institutions receiving funding awards–selected from a highly competitive applicant pool–are the Morehouse School of Medicine Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine; the University of Utah Division of Public Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine; and Kent State University’s College of Public Health.
The awards support the development and teaching of a course in Public Health Law at each institution. In addition to the funding, awardees will receive extensive curriculum support and cohort-based mentorship from seasoned faculty who are experts in teaching Public Health Law to both public health and law students. This initial cohort of faculty and mentors will establish a Public Health Law Teaching Community of Practice (“Community of Practice”) to foster learning and share perspectives across academic institutions while receiving support on the development and implementation of their courses and curricular materials. The project is anticipated to expand over subsequent years.
Although the Council on Education in Public Health does not currently include law among Master in Public Health competencies, numerous leaders recognize law as fundamental to public health education. Project Co-PI Magda Schaler-Haynes reflected on the significance of the investment in training public health students, “Evidence-based policymaking requires an understanding of research and the rule of law. Public health students typically do not receive basic training in law. This is a long-recognized, correctable blind spot for the field; change begins within schools and programs of public health.” The funded faculty offered their unique perspectives on the need for Public Health Law training:
“We have been hearing from our students, both current and alumni, that they would like to have a dedicated public health law course. Similarly, our professional constituency (health commissioners mainly) have been asking us to create a continuing education offering in public health law for their employees,” said Tom W. Brewer, PhD. M. Jur., Professor and Graduate Coordinator at Kent State. A former Ohio county health commissioner will serve as the Kent State course instructor.
“This is a formative time for public health theory and practice, and all of our students…will benefit from access to training in public health law. We want to train our students to address a wide range of public health needs across jurisdictions. To do this, we need to increase our students' facility with the legal system, the laws that drive it, and the legal and policy tensions inherent in public health practice, particularly as they impact populations that exhibit the worst health outcomes,” mentioned Samantha Weber, Assistant Professor at Morehouse School of Medicine.
“As the state’s flagship academic institution, the University of Utah is well-positioned to support and influence critical dialogues regarding the effects that laws and policies have on the health and well-being of people. We also recognize that across the nation, Public Health programs have significant unmet needs to better train a workforce that can deftly navigate the complex and rapidly changing policy landscapes. We see the creation of a course in Public Health Law as essential to developing law and policy that can protect and improve the health of whole populations,” said Jennifer Dailey-Provost of the University of Utah. The University of Utah’s course will be taught by Dailey-Provost with support from Daniel Aaron, Associate Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, creating a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the College of Law and the Division of Public Health.
Additional faculty mentors include Stacie Kershner, Deputy Director of the Center for Law, Health & Society, at Georgia State University College of Law; Montrece Ransom, lead editor of Public Health Law: Concepts and Case Studies, public health law faculty at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, and Director of the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training; and Marice Ashe, Founder of ChangeLab Solutions and former Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
The “Teaching Public Health Law in Accredited Schools and Programs of Public Health” project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under award NU38PW000025, “Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health.” This project is being conducted as part of the Consortium for Workforce Research in Public Health (CWORPH), a collaboration of universities and public health organizations conducting practice-oriented research and analysis on public health finance, workforce, and infrastructure. Information, content, and conclusions contained within this document are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by, CDC, Health and Human Services (HHS) or the U.S. Government.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Founded in 1922, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Columbia Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its nearly 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change and health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with more than 1,300 graduate students from 55 nations pursuing a variety of master’s and doctoral degree programs. The Columbia Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers, including ICAP and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu.