Kerri McGowan Lowrey, J.D., M.P.H., serves as Deputy Director, Eastern Region, where she focuses on injury prevention law, particularly sports and recreational injury prevention in children and adolescents; laws affecting return to school after traumatic brain injury; driver licensing laws and practices; health data privacy and sharing in the school setting; education as a social determinant of health; and housing instability. Kerri spearheaded the development of an interprofessional eviction prevention project with the University of Maryland School of Social Work, which seeks to provide legal triage and access to community support services for families facing housing instability due to the pandemic. She currently serves as co-chair of the Children’s Safety Now Alliance Steering Committee, an alliance of more than 35 organizations seeking to elevate child safety as a national priority and address the related needs of state and local health departments. Kerri’s specialized training includes a four-year term as a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute, where she assisted in developing the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Ethics Track. Prior to joining the Network for Public Health Law, Kerri served as Technical Vice President at the MayaTech Corporation in Silver Spring, MD, and Manager of its Center for Health Policy and Legislative Analysis. She received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and A.B. in public policy and American institutions from Brown University.

Articles & Resources

Combatting COVID-19 through Law and Policy: Social Distancing Only Works if People Can Stay at Home

Law & Policy InsightsCOVID-19Healthy and Affordable HousingSocial Distancing MeasuresSocial and Community Context

March 18, 2020
by Kerri McGowan Lowrey

Workers who are sick and one paycheck away from not being able to pay rent are more likely to go to work, potentially exposing others in their workplace and on public transportation to COVID-19. In response, just in the past week, several jurisdictions have taken innovative steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by instituting policies designed to ensure that people can stay in their homes.

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Data Privacy in School Nursing: Navigating the Complex Landscape of Data Privacy Laws (Part II)

Fact SheetHealth Information and Data SharingSchool NursesSchool Nursing

January 23, 2020
by Kerri McGowan Lowrey

This document is a follow-up to Data Privacy in School Nursing: Navigating the Complex Landscape of Data Privacy Laws (Part I), and will continue where that document left off by addressing additional specific questions from members of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) related to data privacy and data sharing in school nursing. Please see Part I for a brief overview of HIPAA and FERPA as they relate to the practice of school nursing, as well as guidance on how to navigate the intersection of the two laws.

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Protecting Child Agricultural Workers

Law & Policy InsightsEnvironment, Climate and HealthHealth Information and Data Sharing

October 9, 2019
by Kerri McGowan Lowrey

There are approximately two million farms in the U.S. and 893,000 young people living on them. Just more than half of these young people work on the farm where they live. According to research studies, about every three days a child dies from an agriculture-related incident, and about 33 children are injured in agriculture-related incidents each day. While child labor laws protect young people working in other industries, these laws do not extend to the many working in agriculture.

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Making Sure Kids are Healthy Enough to Learn: Innovations in Education Law and Policy

WebinarsNational School Lunch ProgramFood Safety and SecurityHealth in SchoolMechanisms for Advancing Public Health

September 26, 2019
by Kerri McGowan Lowrey and Mathew Swinburne

Education has emerged as a social determinant of health in its own right. More highly educated individuals are healthier and tend to live longer; they also are at less risk of smoking, drug abuse, accidents and chronic diseases. Despite federal laws that guarantee all children a free appropriate public education, major inequities exist.

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Undocumented Immigrants and Patient Privacy Laws

Issue BriefHealth Information and Data Sharing

June 4, 2019
by Kathleen Hoke and Kerri McGowan Lowrey

Concern over immigration enforcement can prevent immigrants from obtaining needed health care. Many immigrants worry that health workers will share their undocumented status with immigration authorities. Removing barriers to immigrants’ utilization of preventative and other health care services is important for public health. This issue brief explores relevant federal and state health privacy laws and how they apply to undocumented immigrants and provides information on health care providers’ rights and responsibilities when providing health care to immigrants.

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