title: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Public Health Law: The Emerging Practice of Legal Epidemiology.
abstract: Public health law has roots in both law and science. For more than a century, lawyers have helped develop and implement health laws; over the past 50 years, scientific evaluation of the health effects of laws and legal practices has achieved high levels of rigor and influence. We describe an emerging model of public health law that unites these two traditions. This transdisciplinary model adds scientific practices to the lawyerly functions of normative and doctrinal research, counseling, and representation. These practices include policy surveillance and empirical public health law research on the efficacy of legal interventions and the impact of laws and legal practices on health and health system operation. A transdisciplinary model of public health law, melding its legal and scientific facets, can help break down enduring cultural, disciplinary, and resource barriers that have prevented the full recognition and optimal role of law in public health.
authors.affiliation: National Program Office, Public Health Law Research Program, Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122; email: scott.burris@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burris
authors.affiliation: ChangeLab Solutions, Oakland, California 94612; email: mashe@changelabsolutions.org.
authors.forename: Marice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ashe
authors.affiliation: Network for Public Health Law, St. Paul, Minnesota 55105; email: dlevin@networkforphl.org.
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333; email: itv1@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Penn
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey 08543; email: mlarkin@rwjf.org.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Larkin
mesh_terms: D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007878:Legislation as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D057766:Policy; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: legal epidemiology; policy surveillance; public health law; public health law research; public health practice