Emergency Declarations for Public Health Issues: Expanding Our Definition of Emergency

Gregory Sunshine¹, Nancy Barrera¹, Aubrey Joy Corcoran¹+1

• ¹Gregory Sunshine, J.D., serves as a public health analyst with the Public Health Law Program in the Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Gregory oversees research on topics such as disaster and public health emergency declarations, state Ebola monitoring and movement policies, isolation and quarantine, and medical countermeasures, and he has published on topics such as gubernatorial emergency authorities, Ebola and the law, and tribal emergency declarations. Gregory earned his J.D. with a certificate in health law from the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore, Maryland, and his bachelor of arts in political science from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Nancy Barrera, J.D., M.P.H., is a senior attorney with the California Department of Public Health, Office of Legal Services. Nancy has extensive experience in public health and has advised various public health programs, including tobacco control, chronic diseases, vital records, injury control, family health programs, health care quality, health equity, and civil rights. Currently, she advises the communicable diseases and emergency preparedness programs on important public health legal issues. Nancy earned her J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, and her M.P.H. from San Jose State University, California. Aubrey Joy Corcoran, J.D., M.P.H., is the health unit chief in the Education and Health Section of Arizona's Office of the Attorney General, where she practices public health law. Aubrey Joy's practice includes litigation at the administrative, trial, and appellate levels in Arizona and federal courts. She earned her J.D. with a certificate in health law from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona and her M.P.H. from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Matthew Penn, J.D., M.L.I.S., is the director of the Public Health Law Program within CDC's Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support. In this role he provides critical legal expertise and leadership to advance public health practice through law. Matthew developed expertise in legal preparedness issues as lead counsel for South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's Office of Public Health Preparedness, the South Carolina Advisory Committee for the Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals, and the South Carolina Pandemic Influenza Ethics Task Force. Mr. Penn earned his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law and his M.L.I.S. from the University of South Carolina in Columbia.