JD/MPH Track (A partnership with Northeastern University School of Law)

Introduction

Public health threats such as HIV, tobacco, domestic violence, contaminated drinking water and bioterrorism require complex interdisciplinary solutions. A public health expert with a law degree or a lawyer with an MPH degree is especially well-equipped to meet these challenges.

Tufts University School of Medicine and Northeastern University School of Law offer a JD/MPH dual degree track. Both schools have long traditions of emphasizing the relationship between pubic policy and public health, responding to the needs of their urban communities and offering students exposure to faculty members who have extensive experience.

In fact, Northeastern has the only Cooperative Legal Education Program in the nation. All law students must complete four co-ops in different legal settings to graduate; students in the JD/MPH dual-degree track must complete at least one co-op related to public health. Examples of co-op employers in the health law field include:

• Health Law Advocates, Boston
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston
• Tufts Medical Center, Boston
• Community Catalyst, Boston
• National Health Law Program, Inc., Washington, DC
• Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, New York
• The Lindesmith Center, San Francisco

Directors

Marcia Boumil, JD, LLM
Director of JD/MPH Track
Assistant Professor of Public Health & Family Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
marcia.boumil@tufts.edu

Wendy Parmet, J.D.
Director of JD/MPH Program
Professor of Law
Northeastern University School of Law
w.parmet@neu.edu

Learning Objectives

Those who successfully complete the dual-degree program will be able to:

1. Articulate the historical interrelations between the fields of law and public health.
2. Apply public health knowledge and skills to enhance legal strategies for the improvement of the health status of populations.
3. Explain the rationale for choosing a legal strategy as a means of protecting and promoting public health.
4. Use legal strategies to contribute to policy development and its application for health promotion and disease and injury prevention.