Health Law, Policy, and Ethics Project

About the Health Law, Policy, and Ethics Project

The Health Law, Policy, and Ethics HLPE (HLPE) project was founded in 2003 and supports one of the strongest health law faculties in the nation. HLPE has a broad mission, covering all aspects of law arising in the health care sector. The Project brings together law, policy, ethics, and business to address some of the most significant health issues of our time. HLPE maintains academic partnerships with other units at Emory including the Rollins School of Public Health, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University Medical School, and Goizueta Business School as well as external partnerships with other academic institutions, nonprofit institutions, the Georgia Bar’s Health Law Section, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others. HLPE supports academic programming including faculty workshops and conferences and related publications. In 2026, HLPE launched its Visiting Scholars Program. HLPE has received external grant funding to support scholarship and academic programming in workers’ compensation and medical privacy as well as disability and health care access.

HLPE supports the student Health Law Society (HLS; also termed the Health Law Practice Society), which it founded in 2003. The mission of HLS is to “nurture exposure to various careers, practice preparedness, and relationship building between students, practitioners, and healthcare professionals [and] to engage students in discussion of critical current and emerging topics in Health Law.” HLPE assists HLS with organizing career and academic panels, community engagement, and its newsletter, which is hosted by The Hub @ Emory. HLPE provides joint degree support for both the JD/MPH and the JD/Masters of Bioethics programs, which it helped create. Students in the J.D./M.P.H. program enroll for five semesters at the law school and two at Rollins School of Public Health. The JD/Masters of Bioethics is seven semesters, five at the law school and two at the Laney Graduate School.

Faculty Affiliates

Ani B. Satz is a Professor of Law and Public Health; Founder and Director of the Health Law, Policy, and Ethics Project and the Health Law Society; Affiliated Professor of Business; Senior Faculty Fellow of the Center for Ethics; and Faculty Fellow of the Emory Global Health Initiative. She writes and teaches at the intersection of law, policy, ethics, and business, examining issues affecting human health and well-being, individuals with disabilities, and nonhuman animals. She teaches courses in health law, disability law, medical ethics and law, and genetics and law among others at Emory. She is past chair of AALS Section on Law, Medicine & Ethics and an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Jessica L. Roberts is a Professor of Law, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, & Data Science at Emory Law. She writes and teaches in the areas of disability law, genetics and the law, and health technology. Jessica is a member of the university-wide Center for Ethics and AI.Humanity Initiative. She came to Emory from the University of Houston Law Center, where she was the Leonard H. Childs Chair in Law, the Director of the Health Law & Policy Institute, and a Professor of Medicine by courtesy.

Upcoming Events

June 4, 2026: Annual American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics Health Law Professorship Conference Luncheon.

Registration for the conference and luncheon are available at https://healthlawprofconf.org.

Health Law Certificate

To earn the health law concentration, students must (1) be accepted into the Health Law Certificate Program through a competitive process, (2) complete a minimum of 12 credits of required and elective courses, (3) and complete an additional 2-3 credits in the capstone experience requirement, including a writing project in health law or an experiential offering in health law. Interested students should contact Professor Matthew Lawrence or Professor Mary Anne Bobinski.

Health law related externships include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Atlanta), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Law Partnership, the American Cancer Society, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Feminist Women’s Health Center, among others.

Related Degree and Certificate Programs

Related Initiatives

Health Law Courses

Corporate Health Law (Ravi)
Disability Law (Roberts and Satz)
Employee Benefits (Acevedo)
Genetics & Law (Roberts)
Global Public Health Law (Brady)
Health Care Organization, Finance, and Administration (Bobinski)
Health Law (Satz)
Health Law and Ethics (Satz)
Health Law and Ethics in Narrative (Satz)
Health Law, Policy, and Ethics (Satz)
Health Care Regulation (Windsor)
Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care: Mental Health Law (Cucolo)
Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System (Norman/Browning)
Public Health Law (Vincent)
Seminar: Animal Law (Satz)
Seminar: Disability and Discrimination (Satz)
Seminar: Genetics and the Law (Satz)
Seminar: Federal & State Budget Policy (Lawrence)
Seminar: Legal and Ethical Implications of Health Technology (Roberts)
Seminar: Topics in Public Health Law (Price)