The University of Washington School of Law has unveiled a new graduate program in health law that harnesses the assets of the university’s internationally known schools of law, medicine, health and public policy. The master’s in law LL.M. degree is a multidisciplinary learning program that addresses and fosters improved individual and global health. The first class will enter in the 2009 autumn quarter.
The Health Law LL.M. provides a specialized legal education in all the facets of health law, including public and private health systems; the role of law in the regulation of research and dissemination of emerging biotechnologies; public health law; medical negligence and patient rights; and global health and social justice.
“Our health law graduate program is based on the idea that the rule of law and infrastructure is critical to improving population health outcomes,” said Dr. Pat Kuszler, a Charles Stone Professor of Law and director of the law school’s Center for Law, Science and Global Health, which administers the health law program.
While there are currently 14 graduate degree programs dedicated to health law in the U.S., the UW’s health law graduate program will be the first of its kind on the West Coast. Kuszler also pointed out that the UW is the ideal place for this new burgeoning field.
“The UW is a powerhouse when it comes to medicine, science, biotechnology, global health and legal education,” Kuszler said. “When you add that to the University’s collaborations with the local biotech industry and NGOs like PATH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UW is uniquely poised as the West Coast anchor for graduate legal education in health law.”
The LL.M. degree program has been added partly as a result of the steadily growing increase in domestic and international health law and policy, a trend that is reflected in the number of students in the UW law school’s J.D. program who have expressed interest in the field. The law school admissions office reports that the number of J.D. students with an interest in health law has nearly tripled since 2001. More than 15% of the incoming first-year students in 2007 identified themselves as having an interest in pursuing a career in health law.
Joan Altman, an incoming first-year law student and one of the law school’s newest Gates Public Service Law Scholars, is part of that trend. Altman’s work in health research after graduating from Wesleyan University prompted her to attend Yale’s Master’s in Public Health program. During her research for the program, Altman realized that a legal education is crucial to effectively translate health care laws and policy into action.
“Interpretation of the law has a direct impact on how health programs are funded, implemented and monitored,” said Altman. “When you consider that there are more than 90 million Americans who are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, you start to understand the significance of that impact.”
Similar growth is evident in the practice bar. With more than 10,000 members, the American Health Lawyers Association, the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted to legal issues in the health care field, reports its membership continues to increase. The Washington State Society of Healthcare Attorneys also has grown as interest in the field has increased in recent years.
One doesn’t have to look much farther than the phrases “pandemic,” “stem cell” or “implant” to understand why there has been such exploding growth in the field of health law. In the U.S., one of every six dollars is spent on health care-related goods or services — more than $2 trillion a year. And every dollar spent is, somewhere along the way, regulated or overseen by some form of legal process.
To cover the many facets of this growing field, the new graduate program will have three tracks for students to follow: Global Health and Justice; U.S. Health Law and Policy; and Genomics and Biotechnology. Kuszler noted that these three tracks correspond to the strengths of UW; in addition, the expertise of the program’s faculty means that the curriculum can be flexible enough and match student interest.
While technological advances in healthcare and medicine have led to an explosion of better services and cutting-edge devices, the issue of delivery of and access to those services and devices continues to be a growing challenge. Many nations around the world still struggle to provide even the most basic healthcare to the poorest and underdeveloped communities. The Centers for Disease Control reports that in Africa nearly one million children die each year from malaria — a disease that could potentially be eradicated or treated if the will and resources were available.
These global health disparities have fueled student and faculty interests in health and human rights and the emerging field of global health law. “More and more we realize that our own long-term survival is deeply rooted in everyone else’s long-term survival,” noted Kuszler.
Prof. Beth Rivin, director of the Global Health and Justice Project, has seen this firsthand through her work in resource-poor countries such as Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines.
“There is an increasing demand for expertise in health law globally,” Rivin said. “To improve population health, vulnerable populations must be protected. Through the health law graduate degree program, we can increase the awareness about and sharpen the skills for future lawyers to meet the demand and challenges of global work.”
In addition to the LL.M. in health law, the Center for Law, Science and Global Health oversees the concurrent degree programs in health administration and public health, the J.D. health law concentration track, and a graduate certificate program in international bioethics, social justice and health. It also partners with numerous other departments and schools on multidisciplinary research projects.
“Health law is currently entering what some scholars have termed a ‘golden age,’” said Kuszler. “Our goal is to make the students who graduate from the health law program as capable as possible in this ever-changing field. The UW’s health law program is designed so graduates can hit the ground running.”
The Health Law LL.M. Program at the University of Washington is accepting applications for the 2009–10 year. For more information about the program or how to apply, call 206.616.3809 or go to: www.law.washington.edu/HealthLaw/LLM.
Shari Ireton is the public information and outreach officer for the University of Washington School of Law.
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