12/14/12 - Director of Center for Law, Ethics and Health at the University of Michigan visits Institute

Peter Jacobson, JD, MPH, Professor of Health Law and Policy, and Director, Center for Law, Ethics and Health at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health visited the Institute this week.

Professor Jacobson serves as a board member for the Public Health Foundation Enterprises (PHFE) with Jerry Jensen, Institute CEO and president. Professor Jacobson teaches courses on health law, health care regulations. His current research interests focus on the relationship between law and health care delivery, law and public health systems, public health ethics, and health care safety net services. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator (PI) on studies examining how public health practitioners define and resolve day-to-day ethical challenges, the impact of state and federal law on public health preparedness, and enhancing organizational and operational efficiencies in Michigan’s health care safety net providers. He is also the PI on a new project that will examine public health entrepreneurship. Before coming to the University of Michigan, Professor Jacobson was a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California.

Professor Jacobson has a keen interest in community organizations that are making a difference in the health, education and well-being of children and families and was pleased to accept an invitation from Mr. Jensen to visit Chattanooga and spend a couple of days learning more about the Institute’s history, services and programs. “I was very impressed with the entire operation and the evident caring of your staff, and its complete dedication to the children. Everyone I met with is very knowledgeable and passionate about improving the lives of the children you see. It's inspiring.”

The University of Michigan Center for Law, Ethics, and Health (CLEH), which Professor Jacobson directs, is an interdisciplinary research center established to examine the law’s influence on the nation’s two health systems: the health care delivery system, which is concerned with individual health outcomes; and the public health system, which is designed to protect the health of communities. Both systems are based on a broad foundation of legal principles.

More than ever, the law is an integral part of virtually every aspect of the modern health care enterprise. By conducting empirical research in areas that have not previously been explored, the Center links academia, private and public health practice, ethics, and policy to improve the delivery of health services to individual patients, discrete populations, and our communities.

CLEH is based at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in collaboration with the University of Michigan Health System, and faculty from the Law and Medical Schools.