Jennifer Piatt, J.D., (“Jen”) is a deputy director with the Network’s Western Region Office. She also serves as a Research Scholar and Co-Director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. She earned her J.D. at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in the spring of 2018.

After law school, Jen served as a law clerk to Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer of the Arizona Supreme Court, providing research and drafting assistance and preparing bench memos for cases granted review. Jen also has experience working in private practice as a pharmacy regulatory attorney at Quarles & Brady LLP, in the firm’s Phoenix, Arizona office. In this role, Jen advised multiple clients on pharmacy and drug wholesale compliance and regulatory issues, provided contract drafting assistance, assisted with state pharmacy and wholesale licensing, and assisted clients going before state boards of pharmacy. Jen now concentrates her work with the Center for Public Health Law and the Network in areas of emergency preparedness and response, Crisis Standards of Care, vaccination, and reproductive health.

Articles & Resources

Acknowledging the Profound Health Impact of Vaccines and the Critical Need to Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy

Law & Policy InsightsEmergency Legal Preparedness and ResponseMechanisms for Advancing Public Health

August 25, 2021
by Jennifer Piatt and Leila Barraza

August is recognized as Immunization Awareness Month to acknowledge and create awareness of the significant life-saving impact vaccinations have had on the public’s health.  However, despite the fact that eradication of certain vaccine-preventable diseases and development of vaccines to prevent cancer are revolutionary achievements, current challenges continue to demonstrate that the importance of vaccination awareness cannot be understated.

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Fulton v. City of Philadelphia: A Recent Supreme Court Ruling Could Have Serious Implications for Public Sector Vaccine Mandates

Law & Policy InsightsCOVID-19Emergency Legal Preparedness and Response

July 15, 2021
by Jennifer Piatt

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred an unprecedented national vaccination campaign, prompting new legal challenges to vaccination mandates. While vaccine mandates have been upheld since Jacobson v. Massachusetts, recent court decisions indicate the potential for a change in the form of a requirement that all public sector vaccine mandates include a religious exemption.  Studies show that states with religious exemptions tend to have much lower vaccine rates, making the possibility of required religious exceptions of significant concern for public health.

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Ensuring Changes in Emergency Powers and Public Health Authority Will Protect Health

WebinarsEmergency Legal Preparedness and ResponsePublic Health Authority

April 15, 2021
by Donna Levin, Jennifer Piatt and Jill Krueger

In this webinar, presenters will describe the nature of the laws being announced from the judicial bench or proposed in state legislatures, the process by which they are being formulated in every level and branch of government, and the principles that should guide legal developments as we seek to balance the facts, expert opinion, and civic participation, as well as guard against harmful unforeseen consequences.

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President Biden’s Memorandum on Women’s Health: Improved Reproductive Care Access for Women is on the Horizon

Law & Policy InsightsMaternal and Child Health

March 10, 2021
by Jennifer Piatt

On January 28, President Biden issued the Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad to address the previous administration’s “global” and “domestic” rules preventing U.S.- funded entities from consulting on, referring for, or providing abortion services, which presented clear obstacles to healthcare access for low-income women in the U.S. and globally. The memorandum is an important step toward increasing access to reproductive care.

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Judicial Trends in Public Health 2020: Year in Review

WebinarsJudicial Trends in Public Health

January 19, 2021
by Brooke Torton, James G. Hodge, Jr., Jennifer Piatt, Kathleen Hoke, Kerri McGowan Lowrey, Leila Barraza, Mathew Swinburne and Sarah Wetter

Join Network attorneys as they highlight their top choices for pivotal, influential judicial decisions over the past year on topics including emergency legal preparedness, religious freedoms, reproductive rights, food insecurity, health justice, and the future of the ACA.

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Election 2020: Public Health Legal Reforms and Projections

WebinarsCivic Engagement and VotingCOVID-19COVID-19 and Health EquityMechanisms for Advancing Public Health

November 16, 2020
by James G. Hodge, Jr., Jennifer Piatt, Leila Barraza and Sarah Somers

Join the Network for an engaging real-time assessment and discussion of potential and projected legal and policy changes ahead on these and other core public health topics. Share your potential questions in advance during registration or during the live session.

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