Health Law

Penn Law offers a unique program that immerses students in cross-disciplinary study at the Law School and throughout the University’s other graduate and professional schools.

In addition to learning the basics about bioethics and the regulation of health care providers, law students may explore the intersection between biology, psychiatry, technology, and intellectual property, apply economic reasoning to better understand health policy challenges, or gain perspective on responses to those challenges by comparing international policy approaches.

Faculty Research

Baker explains the workings of shared state-federal policy making in the health care field

The study, “The New Health Care Federalism: An Empirical and Theoretical Assessment of Federalism Dynamics in Health Care and Beyond,” was co-authored by Tom Baker, Ted Ruger, and colleagues at Yale Law School and the University of Kentucky College of Law.

More on Health Law Faculty and Research

Sample Penn Law Courses

Disability Law
Doctors, Death Panels, & Democracy
FDA Law & Policy
Health Law, Economics, & Policy
Mental Health Law
Public Health Law & Policy

More Courses at Penn

Take up to four classes throughout the University as part of your JD. Here’s what students have recently taken:

Health Policy (Bioethics Department, School of Medicine)
Research Ethics (Bioethics Department, School of Medicine)
Community Development & Public Health (City Planning)
Managed Care and the Industrial Organization of Health Care (Health Care Management, Wharton)
Management and Economics of Pharmaceutical Biotech and Medical Device Industries (Health Care Management, Wharton)
Legal Aspects of Health Care (Health Care Management, Wharton)

Clinics

Joint & Dual Degrees

Sample Student Groups

Health Law and Policy Project (HELPP)
Health Law Group
Law and the Brain Group