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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.

 

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Northeastern University School of Law is ranked No. 7 for health care law in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 rankings.

Partners and Initiatives

The Action Lab

The Action Lab

The Action Lab focuses on the role of criminal law, abusive policing and the broader criminal justice system as a structural determinant of health. The lab generates knowledge, translates knowledge into policy and implements programs on the ground to improve public health through criminal justice reform.
Salus Populi

Salus Populi

Salus Populi: Educating the Judiciary about the Social Determinants of Health is a project in collaboration with the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University School of Law and the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research at Northeastern University that seeks to provide guidance and training to judges on the impact of the law on the social determinants of health.
Public Health Law Watch

Public Health Law Watch

The Public Health Law Watch (PHLW) is a collaborative initiative of the George Consortium. PHLW focuses on identifying potential legislative and regulatory changes at the federal, state and local level that have the potential to impact public health.

CHPL in the News

Mid-Michigan Community Leaders Learn Mass Shooting Prevention, Preparedness

Mid-Michigan Community Leaders Learn Mass Shooting Prevention, Preparedness

UnitedOnGuns, an initiative of Northeastern Law’s Public Health Advocacy Institute, led a discussion on mass shooting preparedness and prevention in Lansing, Michigan, this week at a forum organized by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security.
Abortion Case Could Harm Womens’ Health and Upset Pharma Markets

Abortion Case Could Harm Womens’ Health and Upset Pharma Markets

Professor Wendy Parmet, faculty director of Northeastern Law’s Center for Health Policy and Law, says the Supreme Court’s decision on access to the mifepristone abortion pill could have significant effects on reproductive health and the pharmaceutical industry.
After Court Upholds Brookline Ban, Other Towns Appear Poised to Adopt Generational Restrictions on Tobacco

After Court Upholds Brookline Ban, Other Towns Appear Poised to Adopt Generational Restrictions on Tobacco

Mark Gottlieb ’93, executive director of Northeastern Law’s Public Health Advocacy Institute, joined WBUR’s Radio Boston to discuss the town of Brookline’s first-in-the-nation tobacco ban and whether other municipalities may follow suit.
There’s Only One Syphilis Medication for Pregnant People. And the Supply Is Running Out. What Can the Government Do To Help?

There’s Only One Syphilis Medication for Pregnant People. And the Supply Is Running Out. What Can the Government Do To Help?

Professor Brook Baker, senior policy analyst for HealthGAP, says the government has a role to play in solving the shortage of the only medication that can treat syphilis in pregnant people.