The
Public Health Foundation held a virtual town hall meeting on May 11, 2017 to learn more about the emerging field of legal epidemiology and explore a draft competency model being developed to support public health practitioners, lawyers, and policy experts working in this area. The
Legal Epidemiology Competency Model (LECM) aims to provide guidelines for minimum competencies in legal epidemiology, the scientific study of law as a factor in the cause, distribution, and prevention of disease and injury. Developed by the
Public Health Law Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with a multidisciplinary
Expert Review Workgroup, the LECM describes research and translation knowledge and skills necessary for effectively developing, implementing, or overseeing legal epidemiology studies.
CDC is in the process of refining the draft LECM, and this meeting offered an opportunity for health officials, lawyers, epidemiologists, and policy experts in state, Tribal, local, and territorial health departments; faculty within academic public health and law programs; leaders in national organizations supporting the public health workforce; and others to provide feedback on how this competency model can be enhanced to best meet the needs of the public health workforce.
During this virtual town hall meeting, an overview of legal epidemiology and the draft LECM was provided; the development of the LECM was shared; and participants were invited to discuss this emerging field, the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in this work, and their thoughts on the draft LECM with fellow public health professionals and CDC. Feedback on the competency model will help to refine the current draft and produce a final version of the model for release later in 2017.
Speakers
- Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH, Team Lead, Training and Workforce Development, Public Health Law Program (PHLP), Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support (OSTLTS), CDC
- Tara Ramanathan, JD, MPH, Team Lead, Legal Research and Translation, PHLP, OSTLTS, CDC
- Andy Baker-White, JD, MPH, Senior Director, State Health Policy, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
If you were unable to attend the virtual town hall meeting, feedback on the LECM is also being accepted by email. To share your feedback, please email Janelle Nichols at jnichols@phf.org.
For more information about the virtual town hall meeting, please contact Janelle Nichols at jnichols@phf.org.
Funding for this webinar was made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ChangeLab Solutions under Cooperative Agreement Number 6NU8OT000141-04-02. The views expressed in written webinar materials or publications and by the speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.