Public Health Law Research: State of the Initiative after Two Years

The National Program Office for Public Health Law Research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation starting in 2009 to advance the field of public health law research. After two years, the program has funded more than 30 research proposals and commissioned several white papers to examine the many dimensions of how law impacts population health in areas including legal infrastructure, violence, mental health, environmental health issues, land use, emergency preparedness, reproductive health, vaccinations and pharmaceuticals. The findings from these studies are being used to create an evidence base to revise existing and develop new, more effective policies to improve population health. At the core of public health law research is rigorous research methods ranging from systematic data collection, innovative study design and sound data analysis by interdisciplinary teams that can bring multiple perspectives to the final interpretation of study findings. The purpose of this session is to review the current state of public health law research, describe future challenges for the field, and to present some of the methodological innovation that the program is advancing to better facilitate research at the intersection of public health and law.