University of Michigan School of Public Health Announces the Mid-States Regional Center for Public Health Law
ANN ARBOR â€" The University of Michigan School of Public Health (UM SPH) is among five regional centers in a new network designed to improve public health through law.
(Media-Newswire.com) - ANN ARBOR – The University of Michigan School of Public Health ( UM SPH ) is among five regional centers in a new network designed to improve public health through law. The “Mid-States Regional Center” housed at UM SPH will deliver services to nine states across the Midwest, including the states of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kentucky.
In initiatives ranging from air bag requirements for cars to smoke-free regulations in restaurants and bars, law has become an increasingly powerful tool to create healthier, safer communities. As a result, those vested in public health – from local, state, federal, tribal officials and their legal counsel to public health practitioners, policy-makers and advocates – have an increasing need for public health legal expertise to help them develop, implement and enforce laws that help solve public health problems.
The new Public Health Law Network opened today to provide answers to professionals grappling with complex public health challenges that may warrant legal and policy solutions. On a broader level, the network aims to increase the use and effectiveness of public health laws in protecting, promoting and improving public health by delivering technical assistance and providing education and training to help public health practitioners, lawyers, policy-makers and others working to apply the law to pressing public health issues.
As of Monday, September 20, 2010, anyone working in the fields of public health or law can contact the network for guidance on how best to apply the law to their particular public health concern. Additionally, the network will provide education and training focused on applying the law to improve public health.
“Those working in the field of public health are confronted daily with a wide range of issues—from health reform to emergency preparedness—that intersect with the law. The law is an important tool to protect public health,” said Dan Stier, J.D., director of the Public Health Law Network – National Coordinating Center. “Our goal is to build a robust network of experts who can share their knowledge with others interested in using the law as a powerful tool to improve public health.”
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ( RWJF ) is providing initial funding for the Public Health Law Network and hopes that other organizations will also work with the network as it expands. “We are excited to help launch this national resource that will improve the health of families and communities around our nation,” said Michelle Larkin, J.D., M.S., R.N., director of the RWJF public health team. “Laws and policies, like those used to create smoke-free environments across the U.S. or those that protect the spread of disease during health emergencies, are some of the most effective and lasting ways to help people be healthy.”
The Public Health Law Network complements RWJF’s other programs that explore and support policy and legal solutions to health problems, including the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity ( NPLAN ), Public Health Law Research and the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium.
The network will provide legal technical assistance on many public health topics, including, but not limited to:
•Cross-border public health Emergency legal preparedness and response Environmental public health Food safety Health reform Health information data sharing Injury prevention and safety Public health agency accreditation and regionalization Public health statutes and regulatory information Tobacco control Tribal public health The network is divided into five regions that serve select areas of the United States. Regional headquarters are spread around the nation at the following academic institutions:
The Public Health Law Center at William Mitchell College of Law ( which also serves as the National Coordinating Center for the network ) The University of Maryland School of Law working with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health University of Michigan School of Public Health North Carolina Institute for Public Health at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health working with the National Health Law Program Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University working with the University of New Mexico School of Law Initially, legal experts from these institutions will form the core group of Network leaders, but the Network hopes to expand rapidly to add a wide range of existing and new partners and practitioners.
More information about the Public Health Law Network.
University of Michigan School of Public Health has been promoting health and preventing disease since 1941, and is ranked among the top public health schools in the nation. Whether making new discoveries in the lab or researching and educating in the field, our faculty, students, and alumni are deployed around the globe to promote and protect health.
Contact: Terri Mellow, director of communications Phone: ( 734 ) 764-8094 E-mail: twm@umich.edu
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This story was released on 2010-09-21. Please make sure to visit the official company or organization web site to learn more about the original release date. See our disclaimer for additional information.