The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the Center for Public Health Law Research (CPHLR) at the Temple University Beasley School of Law with the College of Public Health have been selected as a recipient under the National Center for STLT Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce Opportunity – Strengthening Public Health Impact, Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health (Notice of Funding Opportunity CDC-RFA-PW-24-0080).
The recipients will use their expertise in legal epidemiology, policy evaluation, teaching, and training to build capacity among transdisciplinary teams of legal epidemiologists within state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments to better understand the impact of law on population health. The purpose of this project is to improve the overall capacity and performance of the public health system by serving legal epidemiologists who can promote and support the effective use of laws and policies to reduce health disparities in the populations they serve.
“This award positions us to bring legal epidemiology to state, local and tribal health departments at a large scale,” said Scott Burris, JD, director of the Center for Public Health Law Research and professor in the Beasley School of Law and College of Public Health. “I could not be prouder of this incredible team and the network of partners we are bringing together to do this important work.”
The project will continue to increase the breadth and depth of available evidence demonstrating the impact that laws and policies have on health outcomes.
It will also bring together professional organizations serving public health departments to build and launch a Legal Epidemiology Competency Center that will increase capacity across the field of public health — a crucial advancement to improve health, well-being, and equity.
“We are delighted to be recognized for the incredible analytical work that is being done here at Temple through the partnership between the College of Public Health and Beasley School of Law,” said Jennifer Ibrahim, PhD, Dean of the College of Public Health. “We need to take an empirical approach to scrutinize our laws and better understand the mechanisms through which laws can promote and protect health. Through interdisciplinary training, we are discovering the evidence to drive our policymaking, as well as training individuals to join the workforce as leaders of tomorrow. This is truly just the beginning.”
“For the past 15 years, Temple's Center for Public Health Law Research has pioneered the theory and methods of legal epidemiology, creating a necessary and important infrastructure for public health law. This award marks another great moment as they continue to provide the essential resources and training for health departments and practitioners on the front lines in our country,” said Rachel Rebouché, Kean Family Dean and Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law, Temple University, Beasley School of Law.