Center for Health Law Studies Celebrates Number One Ranking in Health Care Law
Jessica L. Ciccone
Senior Director of Communications and Strategy, Saint Louis University School of Law
jessica.ciccone@slu.edu
(314) 977-7248
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The Saint Louis University School of Law Center for Health Law Studies is once again ranked a top program in health care law by U.S. News & World Report for the 2024 rankings. The program has been ranked number one for all but two of the past nineteen years.
Established in 1982, the Center is one of the first law school programs to focus on the intersection of health care and the legal system. Under direction from nationally renowned faculty, the Center has consistently produced groundbreaking scholarship and highly regarded alumni that can be found across the country and around the globe.
鈥淭his recognition of our health law program is a testament to both the quality work of our faculty, staff, alumni, and current students and the commitment of the Center, the Law School, and the University to our mission of improving health for all by pursuing more equitable and effective laws and policies,鈥� said Rob Gatter, professor of law and director of the Center 鈥淭hanks to everyone affiliated with the Center for their ongoing contributions, and a special thanks to the law school鈥檚 faculty, Dean Johnson, and University administration for their support.鈥�
This year alone, Center faculty contributed regionally and nationally to the field of health law. Center Director Rob Gatter served as the Reporter to a Uniform Law Commission committee drafting a model public health emergency authorities statute. Professor Michael Sinha was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine where he also spoke on data privacy and abortion access in post-Dobbs America. Professor Elizabeth Pendo's co-authored article on disability civil rights and equitable care was one of Health Affair's top 10 articles. And Professor Sidney Watson alongside two affiliated faculty members has been tasked with the responsibility of drafting a model state law for the Pharmacists Collaboration for Medicaid for Assisted Treatment Act.
鈥淥ur Center faculty are quite simply some of the very best health law scholars in the country,鈥� said Dean William Johnson. 鈥淭his recognition of the significant contributions they have made to the field, as well as to our law school community and to society more generally, is gratifying.鈥�
Founded in a collaborative and supportive approach to scholarship and teaching, the Center is well known as co-host with the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics of the annual Health Law Scholars Workshop, where a small group of new scholars can present their work for comment to some of the academy鈥檚 most seasoned scholars.
The Center for Health Law Studies continues to grow and change. Most recently, Professor Kelly Dineen Gillespie joined the Center faculty in January of 2023. Professor Gillespie is the nation鈥檚 leading expert on law, policy and ethics related to substance abuse disorder, drug prescribing, and opioid policy. She joins the faculty from Creighton University School of Law where she was the director of the health law program. A trained nurse, she holds her J.D. and Ph.D. in Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University.
The Center also hosted two distinguished health law visitors this year鈥擬ary Crossley, professor of law and dean emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh Law School, and Laura Hermer, professor of law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Additionally, health policy expert Jamille Fields Allsbrook, will join the Center faculty in the fall.
New faculty join the Law School