ASU Law’s public health program receives $1M to continue work

Amidst constant challenges and threats to the public’s health, the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University has received an additional $1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to continue its efforts to ensure that law plays a critical part in improving community health.

The two-year grant will allow the Western Region Office of the Network of Public Health Law, housed in ASU Law’s Center for Public Health Law and Policy, to provide legal and policy assistance and solutions to professionals and practitioners dealing with complex, public health related problems. Resources also support multiple conference events, extensive scholarship among Center faculty and students, and wide-ranging contributions in public and private sector public health projects.  

“Protecting the public’s health through effective legal interventions and assistance has never been more challenging or important against a backdrop of downward budgets and continued threats,” said James G. Hodge Jr., director of the Western Region Office and ASU’s Center for Public Health Law and Policy. “Law is a pivotal tool in advancing a culture of health to ameliorate population-based health outcomes.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has provided key support for the Western Region Office at ASU Law, contributing more than $4.5 million since the Office’s inception in 2010. As a result, the Western Region Office has responded to more than 2,000 from public-health practitioners and officials, health-care providers, lawyers, researchers, academics, media, and students and media across the Western region and nationally.

In addition, Network experts provide guidance on an array of public-health law topics such as emergency preparedness, obesity prevention, vaccinations, and communicable disease controls, including ongoing national guidance on Zika virus legal preparedness and prevention.