April 2018
Volume 6, Number 1
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Greetings from the Center Directors
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The Center for Health Policy and Law continues to grow with the addition of new faculty and an advisory board. We find ourselves busier than ever hosting and co-sponsoring events on campus and throughout the Boston area, lending our expertise to important health law and policy topics, and mentoring health law students and graduates. We are also gearing up for our annual health law conference,
Diseases of Despair: The Role of Policy and Law
(more information below) on April 12-13, 2018. We hope to see everyone there!
Wendy E. Parmet,
Faculty Director
Jennifer Lea Huer,
Managing Director
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About the Center for Health Policy and Law
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Northeastern University School of Law's Center for Health Policy and Law draws from participating departments across Northeastern University to provide a rich context for students and researchers interested in public health law, health and human rights, health governance, intellectual property, bioethics, health care delivery law, and the regulation of our health care system. It is guided by faculty and staff with diverse areas of expertise and is affiliated with an array of university-wide institutes, programs and experiential learning opportunities.
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U.S. News & World Report
Ranks NUSL
#14 for Health Care Law
The Center for Health Policy and Law is an affiliate of the
International Academy of Medical Ethics and Public Health (IAMEPH).
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Annual Health Law Conference
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- Patrick Kennedy, Former US Representative for Rhode Island
- Dr. Michael Fraser, Executive Director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
- Michael Botticelli, Executive Director of The Grayken Center for Addition Medicine at Boston Medical Center
This year also marks the first time the center has partnered with the
Northeastern University Law Review
to issue a call for papers in conjunction with the conference. The papers that were selected will be presented at the conference and published in an upcoming issue of the law review.
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Northeastern University School of Law Welcomes New Health Law Faculty
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This summer, Claudia Haupt will join Northeastern University as an associate professor of law and political science. Her current research is situated at the intersection of the First Amendment, health law and torts in the context of professional speech. Further research interests include constitutional law and comparative constitutional law as well as law and technology. We are excited to welcome Claudia Haupt to our team!
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Advisory Board Established to Help Drive Vision and Growth
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We are thrilled to announce the Center for Health Policy and Law has launched an advisory board to help the center faculty and staff articulate and implement short- and long-term strategies for ongoing success and growth. The board is composed of Northeastern law graduates and other leading health law practitioners and represents a wide spectrum of health sectors and roles. The full board will meet for the first time in April 2018.
Advisory Board Members
- Joshua Abrams '97, Partners HealthCare System
- Amy Hudspeth Cabell '91, Harvard Pilgrim Health Institute
- John Chesley '84, Ropes & Gray
- Lois Dehls Cornell '86, Massachusetts Medical Society
- Leslie Joseph '93, Mount Auburn Hospital
- Donna Levin '78, Network for Public Health Law
- Golda Philip '09, US Department of Health and Human Services
- Stephen Rosenfeld, Health Law Advocates and Rosenfeld & Rafik
- Lawrence Vernaglia, Foley & Lardner
- Joseph Vittiglio '96, AMAG Pharmaceuticals
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The Public Health Law Watch (PHLW), a project of the Center for Health Policy and Law and the George Consortium, issued a
letter to the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in response to a recent hearing and subsequent report that erroneously linked the ongoing opioid crisis with the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. Healthline, a national health news website, cited PHLW in its commentary on the topic and recognized PHLW as a watchdog group for its important work in offering well-researched counterpoints to the hearing’s report.
A PHLW
post was also cited in an
amicus brief
related to the
American Beverage v. City and County of San Francisco case.
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Harm Reduction Solutions to the Opioid Crisis
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In September, the center hosted a community forum on safe consumption facilities in Massachusetts. The forum included several speakers representing different perspectives on the issue, including law enforcement, policy-making, health care, advocacy and academia. Community attendees were thoroughly engaged in the presentations and the open discussion, hosted by WBUR’s Martha Bebinger, that followed. The event was the result of strong collaboration between the Center and Northeastern University’s Institute on Urban Health Research (IUHR), SIFMA Now (an advocacy organization located in Cambridge, Mass.), the Boston College Gabelli Presidential Scholars and the Open Society Foundation.
Interest in the event was so strong that the center and SIFMA NOW worked together to organize a related event on Northeastern’s campus earlier this month.
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3 + 3 BS in Health Science and JD Launched
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Northeastern University recently approved a
3+3 Program, in which a select group of first–year undergraduate students will be invited to take part in an accelerated academic program that will allow them to earn their undergraduate degree through the Bouvé College of Health Sciences in three years, and immediately enroll in the School of Law’s three-year JD program. The first cohort of students in this program will be welcomed to the university in fall 2018.
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Safe Drinking Water in Child Care Centers and Schools
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The Public Health Advocacy Institute, an affiliate of the center, recently issued a report and set of policy recommendations related to
Safe Drinking Water Procurement in Child Care Centers and Schools. The report looks at 20 states to gain a better understanding of current practices and issue policy recommendations and guidelines based on the data gathered during the related study.
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Health Law Scholar: Paige Baum '21
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Paige was inspired by NUSL’s health law faculty and was particularly excited by last year’s annual health law and policy conference “Between Complacency and Panic: Legal, Ethical and Policy Responses to Emerging Infectious Diseases.”
Now in her first year at NUSL, Paige has been fortunate to work on a health related project in her Legal Skills in a Social Context course. In this course, with fourteen other first year law students, she has researched state and federal laws impacting sexual and reproductive education. Together the first year “law office” created a legal guide for expansion of services in “abstinence-only” states.
This year the law school welcomed its first class of health law scholars.
Recipients received full-tuition scholarships based on their demonstrated interest in and commitment to pursuing careers in health policy and law. Each newsletter issue will highlight one of our scholars.
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Health Law Alumnus: Scott Mays'05, MultiPlan
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Scott Mays ’05 claims to be an “accidental health lawyer.” Despite the fact that his first co-op was with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, he walked the path of joining a firm after graduation, where his practice mainly focused on financial securities and litigation. It wasn’t long before Mays realized that an in-house role might be best for him. Though he had not practiced health law a day in his post-grad life, Mays applied for a position with the legal team at Tufts Health Plan (THP). During his interview with THP’s general counsel (then, Lois Dehls Cornell ’86, another NUSL alum!), Mays emphasized that his skills-set in other areas of legal practice, such as being able to work through complicated legal and regulatory issues, was highly transferrable to any role, including one that was more health care content-focused.
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Publications, Speaking Events and Updates
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Selected highlights from core members of our team. Please visit our website for a full listing.
Aziza Ahmed
Brook Baker
Leo Beletsky
Gregory Curfman
Wendy E. Parmet
Elisabeth Ryan
Emily Spieler
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Our faculty are frequently quoted in leading national publications. Follow our News page to see the full listing.
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President Trump has been Dangerously Silent on this Year’s Deadly Flu Epidemic
“[C]onsidering the number of American lives at stake, it’s really somewhat astonishing” that the White House has not been more vocal and transparent about a plan to fight the virus, says Professor Wendy E. Parmet in a recent
Vox article.
(more)
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How a Police Chief, a Governor and a Sociologist Would Spend $100 Billion to Solve the Opioid Crisis
Professor Leo Beletsky was part of an expert panel asked to offer insights into, and solutions for, strategic responses to the opioid crisis for
The New York Times.
(more)
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Subpoenas Flying in Tony Gwynn Tobacco Case as Mr. Padre Documentary Premieres
As a way to explain the large number of subpoenas issued in a tobacco case against the US Smokeless Tobacco Company, Professor Dick Daynard comments that that “the tobacco companies are indeed infamous for their scorched-earth litigation tactics.”
(more)
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How the CVS-Aetna Merger Could Improve – or Undermine – Healthcare
Professors Kristin Madison, Patricia Illingworth and Gary Young offer expert insight on the potential benefits and risks of two major health care entities consolidating to disrupt the health care market in the US.
(more)
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Recent and Upcoming Events
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Admitted Students Weekend
March 23-24, 2018
Northeastern University School of Law
The Center for Health Policy and Law hosted a special discussion and tour for students interested in health law.
Health Law Networking Event
March 28, 2018
Northeastern University School of Law
Co-sponsored by the NUSL Health Law Society
Annual Health Law Conference
Diseases of Despair: The Role of Policy and Law
April 12.13, 2018
Northeastern University
Health Justice: Empowering Public Health and Advancing Health Equity
October 4-6, 2018
Phoenix, Ariz.
Global Health Initiative Conference
October 19-20, 2018
Northeastern University
Annual Health Law Lecture: Brigitte Amiri, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
October 26, 2018
Northeastern University School of Law
Domestic Violence Conference
December 14, 2018
Northeastern University School of Law
Co-sponsored by Northeastern University School of Law and its Domestic Violence Institute
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northeastern.edu/law/health
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