The University of Southern California’s Law & Global Health Collaboration advances scholarship and provides monthly lectures and public discussions at the intersection of law and global health.
Virtually all significant global health topics raise challenging legal issues which are better understood and addressed when considered from a multidisciplinary basis. We invite interested students, faculty and staff to partake in a free exchange of ideas and collaboration on these important topics.
Supported by the USC Research Collaboration Fund, Professor Sofia Gruskin, director of the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, leads this collaboration alongside USC Gould Professor of Law and Medicine Alexander Capron and USC Research Professor and Associate Dean of Research Charles Kaplan from the School of Social Work.
Secretariat & Steering Committee:
- Program on Global Health & Human Rights
- USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health
- Steering Committee:
- Capron, Alexander (Gould School of Law, Keck School of Medicine)
- Ferguson, Laura (Keck School of Medicine)
- Gruskin, Sofia (Keck School of Medicine, Gould School of Law)
- Kaplan, Charles (Suzanne Dworak-Peck, Social Work)
- Mayer, Doe (School of Cinematic Arts and Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism)
- Renteln, Alison Dundes (Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences)
Take Part
- Lecture Series: Attend one of our free events. See the event list below.
- Email List: Interested in getting involved? Subscribe to our email list »
Events
2018-2019 Lecture Series
This academic year the USC Law & Global Health Collaboration is focusing on the intersections of law and global health as it relates to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Following the Collaboration’s work of the last two years first on supporting the health and rights of transgender populations and then on the implications of the Trump administration’s policies, this year’s series brings the two streams together to help us move towards research and action in the area of SRHR. Information about upcoming events, as well as discussion summaries and other relevant documents and links from previous events, are included in the posts below.
- Social Movements, Sexual Rights, and Reproductive Rights: #MeToo in Global Context
- Achieving Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Southern Africa
- Missing in Action? The United States & the Global Struggle for Sexual Rights
- Trojan Scholar Spotlight: Sexual & Reproductive Health and Rights at USC
- The Global Right to Health: Successes & Failures in the Fight Against Hate
- From Laws and Standards to Implementation of Interventions in Global Health: Human Rights in Praxis
- Sustainable Development Goals, HIV & Human Rights: Advancing Equality, Inclusion and Justice
2017-2018 Lecture Series
In 2017-2018, the USC Law & Global Health Collaboration fostered evidence-based dialogue and research on the implications of the Trump administration’s policies on select law and health topics. From the local to the global, and from climate change to immigrant health, our speaker series helped to set a research agenda relevant to students and faculty from across USC. Information about upcoming events, as well as discussion summaries and other relevant documents and links from previous events, are included in the posts below.
- Using Civic Imagination to Resist: Envisioning A Future With Sexual and Reproductive Rights
- Reproductive Justice in the Era of Backlash
- Legal and Health Dimensions of Trump’s Immigration Policies: What is Happening and What We Can Do About It
- Implications of the Trump Administration’s Policies: Climate Change, Environment and Global Health
- Fake News and Censorship: Twin Challenges for Law and Global Health in the Digital Age
- Implication of the Trump Administration’s Policies on Law and Global Health: Evidence and Preliminary Reflections
2016-2017 Lecture Series
The 2016-2017 series introduced issues and challenges that arise at the intersection of transgender rights, law and global health. There were also several additional sessions explored a range of interests, including toxic stress. Information about these events, as well as discussion summaries and other relevant documents, are included in the posts below.
- Toxic Stress, Human Rights and Health Equity: Local and Global Implications for Research
- In Transition: Gender [Identity], Law & Global Health Research Symposium
- Transgender Youth Care in the New Millennium
- Generating Research to Support Transgender Populations
- Legal and Other Barriers to Protection for Transgender Asylum-Seekers in the US
- Maximizing Sexual Health & Rights of Transgender Populations: The Changing Role of the International Classification of Diseases
- In Transition: Gender [Identity], Law & Global Health
News
- Q&A: Laws and Standards to Implementation of Interventions in Global Health with Rajat Khosla March 21, 2019
- Q&A: HIV, health and human rights with Mandeep Dhaliwal and Jeff O’Malley March 15, 2019
- Trump’s policies could ravage global health progress, experts say September 27, 2017
- Law School Hosts Discussion about Transgender Health October 28, 2016
- Law and Global Health Working Group receives USC Collaboration Fund award August 10, 2016
- USC law + global health working group builds on momentum June 23, 2015
Work Output
- Resource Kit: Ensuring the sexual and reproductive health and rights of transgender populations October 8, 2018
- “In transition: ensuring the sexual and reproductive health and rights of transgender populations.” A roundtable discussion August 2, 2018
- No “Shared Governance” Without Attention to Law, Broadly Conceived October 4, 2016
Background
Details:
For two years, beginning in 2014, an exploratory working group of faculty from across the University established the groundwork for the current collaboration. They began by approaching a single topic—the criminalization of HIV transmission—through a multidisciplinary lens.
The group discovered broad commonalities in terms of content and concerns no matter the topic—the importance of how laws are implemented; public health and societal effects; the use of the narrative in framing reference to law; and the relevance of cultural constructs both in how we conceive research questions and how we understand results.
Minutes
Below are minutes from the meetings that took place during the working group phase.
Working Group
Law & Global Health Working Group Participants:
Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes; Boyd-Judson, Lyn; Capron, Alexander; Cousineau, Michael; Cruz, David; Ferguson, Laura; Finch, Caleb; Garry, Hannah; Gotsis, Marientina; Gruskin, Sofia; Kaplan, Charles; Kumar, Shubha; Lakoff, Andrew; Levine, Peg; Lewis, LaVonna; Mayer, Doe; Palinkas, Lawrence; Peet, Jessica; Renteln, Alison; Rodriguez, Yaneth; Rose, Adam; Samet, Jonathan; Sood, Neeraj; Wipfli, Heather; Withers, Mellissa
