Center for Health Policy and Law
We Have a Healthy Interest in Making the World a Better Place
At Northeastern University School of Law, we focus on health law through a dynamic, interdisciplinary approach that integrates a wide variety of practical and research interests.
Our Center for Health Policy and Law provides a rich context for students and researchers interested in public health law, health and human rights, health governance, health care financing, drug law, intellectual property, bioethics, healthcare delivery law and the regulation of our health care systems. It is guided by faculty with diverse areas of expertise and is affiliated with an array of university-wide institutes, programs and experiential learning opportunities.
In addition to offering a broad curriculum in health and public health law, the center sponsors conferences, lectures, colloquia, the Health Law Student Association and workshops that introduce students to career opportunities in the growing field of health law and policy.
Students benefit from the school’s signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. With opportunities extended by more than 1,100 employers, all JD students are guaranteed three full-time work experiences. For those students interested in careers in health law, there are opportunities to spend co-ops working with NGOs, law firms, government offices and companies that specialize in health-related fields.
Students in the JD program are offered two outstanding dual-degree MPH program options: with Tufts University School of Medicine as well as Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences. The School of Law and Bouvé share a number of faculty appointments in both healthcare and law, providing students with an integrated approach to both teaching and experiential opportunities. JD students may also opt to earn a certificate in health policy and law.
Students in the LLM program are offered a special concentration in health policy and law, which is designed to meet the needs of lawyers who want to enhance their practical skills and substantive knowledge as well as lawyers aiming to enter the field. This in-depth program helps prepare lawyers who aim to work with health care providers and insurers, government regulatory agencies, firms handling pharmaceutical products liability and toxic tort cases, and NGOs and community-based organizations in the United States and abroad, among others.
All Northeastern law students and faculty are also invited to join in the work of the university’s outstanding institutes and programs dedicated to health law, including the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI), the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE), the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research, the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research, the Domestic Violence Institute (DVI), and the Action Lab. In addition, upper-level students may participate in one of the school’s health-related clinics, including the Domestic Violence Clinic, Poverty Law and Practice Clinic and the Public Health Legal Clinic.
In recognition of the law school’s leadership in this field, U.S. News and World Report ranks Northeastern No. 7 for health care law.