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.
This report examines how school health providers, who work at the intersection of health and education, can play a critical role in reducing chronic absence.
The National Association of School Nurses has issued a position statement that the school nurse is an “essential member of the school health team to address student concussions.” This fact sheet outlines how, as a school-based healthcare professional, the school nurse is likely to be the school staff member with the most comprehensive knowledge of mild brain injury.
Tax exemptions can be used effectively to encourage the purchase of consumer goods that support public health and safety by reducing the rate of injury or death. A few states have passed sales tax exemptions that fit the bill for public health, including exemptions for child car seats, bicycle helmets, and fire-safety equipment for homes. But these types of tax exemptions are often underutilized.
Tax incentives, in the form of tax credits, deductions or exemptions, can be effective legal interventions for advancing the public’s health. This resource examines tax incentives that encourage prevention of child and adult injuries that occur while traveling, during recreation, and at home.
Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for teenagers in the U.S. One often-overlooked issue in crash prevention is tire maintenance. A 2012 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 12 percent of crashes among inexperienced drivers were tire-related, while only 5 percent of crashes among experienced drivers were tire-related, suggesting that inexperienced drivers may lack knowledge about safe vehicle maintenance. Efforts to standardize and promote driver education across the country may be one way to address this issue.
Registered professional school nurses provide important access to prevention services, early detection, and mental health services for school-aged children and adolescents. For many children, the school nurse may be the only health care provider they will see all year. School nurses are uniquely positioned at the intersection of student health and education; and they are trained to understand the complexity of the relationship between physical and mental well-being and academic success.
