Darlene Huang Briggs, J.D., M.P.H., is the Network’s deputy director for the Act for Public Health Initiative (Act4PH), a collaborative of public health law organizations providing capacity-building support to help public health departments preserve their authority and powers to protect the health of communities. In this role, Darlene manages the Network’s Act4PH efforts, tracks and analyzes legislation, provides legal technical assistance, conducts trainings, and develops tools and educational materials.
Darlene began her professional career at a local county health department, and her work both then and now has been steeped in questions of governmental authority to enact, implement, and enforce policies that improve population health. She was most recently Legislative and Policy Counsel for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, where she led the provision of legal and policy technical assistance for state and local advocacy campaigns. This included liaising with stakeholders, developing campaign and litigation strategy, and legislative drafting. She also contributed to the Campaign’s federal legislative and regulatory efforts and supported its litigation activities. Prior to this, she provided consulting services in the areas of public health law, policy, and science; was Senior Associate at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and Staff Attorney at the Public Health Law Center; and served as a National Academies of Medicine Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Darlene received her B.S. at Colorado State University, her M.P.H. at the University of Minnesota, and her J.D. at William Mitchell College of Law.