Striving for Health Equity through Medical, Public Health, and Legal Collaboration

Joel B Teitelbaum¹, Joanna Theiss¹, Colleen Healy Boufides¹

• ¹Joel B. Teitelbaum, J.D., LL.M., is Associate Professor, Director of the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program, and Co-Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP) at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (MISPH). He also carries a faculty appointment in the GW School of Law. He teaches and writes in the fields of health care civil rights, law and social determinants of health (SDH), health reform and its implementation, and medical-legal partnership. He is coauthor of Essentials of Health Policy and Law, Fourth Edition (forthcoming 2019) and Essentials of Health Justice (2018). Joanna Theiss, J.D., LL.M., is a Research Associate at NCMLP. She has co-authored numerous reports about SDH and various facets of the medical-legal partnership field, including SDH screening and population health. Prior to joining NCMLP, she was a Staff attorney at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and began her career as a public defender in Florida. Colleen Healy Boufides, J.D., is a senior Staff attorney with the Network for Public Health Law - Mid-States Region at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Prior to joining the Network, Colleen worked at the Michigan Primary Care Association, where she was involved in state and federal legislative and administrative advocacy on behalf of Michigan's federally qualified health centers. Colleen also worked as a commercial litigation associate for Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone, PLC, a large Michigan-based law firm.