About

The Program in Health, Law and Society is an interdisciplinary program based at Columbia Law School, and involving faculty, students and trainees from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and other schools and departments in the University. The goals of the Program are:

• To stimulate consideration by Columbia faculty of the legal, ethical, and social issues raised by health-related advances in basic, clinical, and behavioral science
• To convene scholars from different disciplines, along with policymakers and practitioners, to identify key issues in need of theoretical and empirical exploration
• To promote interdisciplinary research, both theoretical and empirical, on health, law, ethics, and society
• To enhance the teaching of law, ethics, and social science as they relate to health in the various schools of the university
• To cultivate younger scholars who are likely to make substantial future contributions to health, law, ethics and society
• To play a significant role in education of the public and of policymakers regarding issues within the scope of the Center’s work

The Program sponsors a monthly colloquium on Health, Law and Society, with invited speakers who address a diverse range of issues for an interdisciplinary audience. In April 2008, the Program is sponsoring a major conference on “Violence on Campus: Prediction, Prevention, and Response,” the first in an anticipated series of conferences on important issues at the nexus of health, law, and social policy, aimed at scholars, practitioners, the media, and the informed public.