As Co-Director, Mid-States Region, Colleen Healy Boufides, J.D., is responsible for overseeing development and expansion of the region’s state-specific and workforce development activities. She is particularly interested in legal issues relating to public health authority and decision-making; environmental health and justice; community health workers; and collaboration with medical-legal partnerships (MLP). Before joining the Network in 2016, Colleen provided policy and operational support to federally qualified health centers at the Michigan Primary Care Association. Prior to that, she worked as a litigation associate at a large Michigan-based law firm. Colleen received her law degree from the Duke University School of Law and her Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University – the Barrett Honors College. She is licensed to practice law in Michigan.
Some of the public health law and policy stories that made headlines in March include a call by physicians for policy changes to better address the opioid epidemic, states’ efforts on oral health care access for the elderly, the effects of gun laws on suicide rates, and a new federal law requiring water companies to notify customers of lead and other dangerous contaminants in water.
Frustrated by what they perceive as insufficient federal legislative and executive efforts to address climate change, a group of young plaintiffs and other activists have filed suit against the federal government, citing a wide variety of health-related harms they have suffered because of the government’s inability to reduce carbon emissions.
Overview In a recent Network issue brief, we discussed legal issues and policy implications related to the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan,…
