Initiated and spearheaded by the dedicated Kahan Family Research Professor Sonia Suter, the Health Law Initiative has evolved into a fully-fledged Health Law and Policy Program. It has expanded to incorporate new faculty members, diversified clinical opportunities, and an extensive range of courses, as detailed in the program's curriculum. The new Health Law and Policy Program provides a robust foundational curriculum to introduce students to a wide spectrum of health law subjects and presents a wealth of programming and field placement opportunities. These opportunities are designed to equip and empower students who aspire to make a meaningful impact on health law policy, reinforcing the institution's commitment to educating future leaders in this vital field.
Mark your calendars for the 2024 Health Law Symposium, set to take place on Friday, March 22. Additionally, our Kahan Health Law Distinguished Speaker Series on Wednesday, March 20 will feature the renowned Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022. Stay tuned for further details on this event.
Meet the entire Health Law and Policy Faculty:
Dayna Bowen Matthew
Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law
"I am proud to be among the Health Law and Policy faculty writing, teaching, and advocating for health equity across the United States and abroad. Please keep an eye out for the new and exciting programs planned for you."
Sonia M. Suter
The Henry St. George Tucker III Dean's Research Professor of Law; The Kahan Family Research Professor of Law; Co-Director, Health Law and Policy Program
"As the Founding Director of the Health Law Initiative, it is thrilling to see us evolve into the new Health Law and Policy Program. I am excited to have the opportunity to work closely with my Co-Director, Professor Barak Richman, and the other wonderful members of the health law faculty as we shape the future of the program.
With a critical mass of health law faculty with complementary teaching and research interests and fantastic adjuncts from the D.C. health law community, we are poised to offer a rich array of courses, programming, and engagement with policy leaders at the national, state, and local level. Our goal is to expand the ability of our health law students to combine their classroom learning with a wealth of experiential opportunities on the Hill and in federal regulatory agencies, policy organizations, think tanks, and health law practices. With our location in DC and excellent health law faculty, I envision us becoming one of the nation’s leading programs in the field and a training ground for the future leaders in health law and policy.
My own focus within the program, both in terms of teaching and scholarship, is on the intersection between law, medicine, genetics, and bioethics, with a strong focus on the doctor-patient relationship, informed consent, reproductive justice, and emerging reproductive technologies. I also work closely with our wonderful Kahan Health/FDA Law Fellows, who have played an important role in shaping the activities of the Health Law Initiative. Mentoring, teaching, and working closely with students is one of the great joys of my job."
Barak D. Richman
Professor of Law; Co-Director, Health Law and Policy Program
"I am immensely excited to be at GW and among those building a wide-reaching center on health law and policy. The health sector occupies about 1/6 of the nation's economy, which means that health lawyers face both enormous responsibilities and enormous opportunities. Those who understand the sector's many parts, and the broad collection of laws and regulators that shape its performance, have the opportunity both to correct many of our nation's most intractable problems and to pioneer rewarding career paths.
We are just getting started and we have a lot more work to do, but our efforts are already bearing fruit. The health law and health policy communities have already started recognizing that GW faculty have leading voices in health policy debates and that GW students play instrumental roles in any part of the health sector."
Emily A. Benfer
Associate Professor of Clinical Law; Director of the Health Equity Policy & Advocacy Clinic
"Across multiple health-focused clinical offerings, GW health law students are confronting real-world social and legal issues at the root of health inequity. I am thrilled to lead the Health Law and Policy Program's interprofessional clinic—the Health Equity Policy & Advocacy Clinic. In this medical-legal partnership clinic, students are integrated into the healthcare team where they provide legal representation to low-income patients to address legal barriers to health, such as substandard housing conditions that cause asthma or violations of fair housing and disability law that exacerbate poor health.
At the same time, our students are collaborating with historically marginalized communities to advocate for health-protective policies at the local and national levels. They are making a tangible, lasting difference in the lives of their clients and across the community and bringing us one step closer to the ultimate achievement of health justice and equity."
Renée Gentry
Professorial Lecturer in Law
"As Director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic, which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year, I'm thrilled to be participating in the new Health Law and Policy Program. The past few years have thrown into stark relief the need for strong leadership in public health and particularly vaccines. The opportunity for our student attorneys to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration and contribute to the dialogue and solutions around pressing health problems is incredibly exciting and in our clinic that would be maintaining a vibrant safety net for those rare individuals injured by vaccines, so that we ensure a successful ongoing universal immunization program."
Drake Hagner
Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law; Director, Health Rights Law Clinic
"GW University has a robust community of scholars with expertise in health law and policy. By bringing together faculty across the university, Dean Matthew’s new program is poised to make an even greater impact toward laws and policies optimizing equitable access to high-quality healthcare.
I am honored to direct the Health Rights Law Clinic, which provides free legal help to our DC neighbors who rely on Medicaid to afford medical care. The District has achieved one of the nation’s lowest rates of residents without health insurance coverage. Yet, our health outcomes are still suboptimal and show disparities by race, income, and neighborhood.
Law students in the Health Rights Law Clinic make a difference by representing real clients with Medicaid appeals and other health-harming legal needs. We collaborate with medical clinics, including the GW Cancer Center and a local mental healthcare agency, to serve patients and provide community legal education for healthcare providers serving our client communities."
Sarah Polcz
Associate Professor of Law Biosciences and the Law
"My former and new faculty colleagues involved in the GW Health Law and Policy Program are giants in the health law field, and I was thrilled by the prospect of joining them. My research on non-monetary incentives covers both intellectual property law and law and the biosciences. GW Law's commitment to supporting scholarship with policy impact makes it the ideal place for me to continue to explore the conditions under which such incentives and social norms can sustain public goods in the health sector in the absence of regulation."
Laura S. Richman
Associate Professor of Social Science and Health Law Social Sciences, Psychology, and Public Health Law
"I teach courses at the intersection of public health and law. Currently, I teach health care reform and spring semester I'll teach public health law with Dean Matthew and "The Persuasive Use of Data in Law and Policy." I hope to engage students in my scholarship on social drivers of health and legal epidemiology.
My hope is that in a short period of time, students will feel overwhelmed with the number of exciting opportunities in Health Law. My work has always been interdisciplinary, and I want to help students--through coursework, research experiences, and professional networking--to understand the valuable role that they can play in being able to apply their legal skills to the world of health policy."
The official “launch date” was Friday, October 20 when faculty, students, and alumni gathered to celebrate and plan the program’s future. A full gallery can be found here.
