PHAI Online - The Public Health Advocacy Institute
News
Fifth Conference on Public Health, Law, & Obesity
September 19 - September 21, 2008
Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC NEEDS SOLUTIONS WITH IMPACT.
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) along with
Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP) is sponsoring the 5th
conference on public health, law, and obesity.
Hear new ideas and work with colleagues to develop truly
effective strategies that have a real impact on obesity at this
agenda-setting conference.
Advocates, public health practitioners, legal scholars,
researchers, and policy makers are invited to come together
to discuss the current legal approaches to the obesity
epidemic. The conference will help stakeholders collaborate
in developing a public health legal strategy with a foundation
in environmental change that empowers communities and
populations to tackle the public health implications of a
broken food system and built environment.
School Food
The food and the marketing of food in schools are key factors in childhood obesity. The school food environment impacts not only children but their families and communities. Funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research program, PHAI investigates how the law shapes the diets of children in the school food environment and how the law can be used as a public health tool to improve school food.
PHAI also investigates the design, implementation, and evaluation of enforcement mechanisms for nutrition and physical activity standards in K-12 settings. Our work in this area is geared to provide legal and policy assistance to advocates and public health practitioners working in the area.
PHAI recently published Mapping School Food: A Policy Guide, a tool to assist key decision-makers in developing and enforcing school food policies. More information and the guide are available here.
Contact
102 The Fenway, Suite 117CU
Boston, MA 02115-5000
Voice & Fax
617.373.2026 (voice)
617.373.3672 (fax)
Tobacco Control
Tobacco Control Resource Center (TCRC)
The Tobacco Control Resource Center (TCRC) was founded in 1979 by doctors, academics, and attorneys. It is an umbrella organization that implements tobacco control projects. These projects are funded through grants from institutions such as the National Cancer Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Legacy Foundation and other key organizations. Through these grants, TCRC is able to work with tobacco control professionals to combat the appalling strategies used by the tobacco industry to debilitate public health.
TCRC pioneers creative tobacco control measures and is continually engaged in analyzing and drafting legislation locally, nationally, and internationally. TCRC works closely with tobacco control advocates, policy makers and attorneys to ensure that new regulations will withstand challenges from the tobacco industry. One of TCRC’s major contributions to the public health arena is the Tobacco Products Liability Project (TPLP), which uses litigation against the tobacco industry as a public health strategy.
In 2006, TCRC and the Public Health Advocacy Institute entered into a merger.
Soon, we will begin importing the archives of the TCRC website here. Now, much that archival material can be searched from here.
People
Christopher Banthin, J.D., Director Tobacco Control Resource Center
Richard Daynard, J.D., Ph.D., President
Patricia Davidson, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Lissy Friedman, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Mark Gottlieb, J.D., Executive Director
Sara Guardino, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Marlo Miura, J.D., M.A., Staff Attorney
Robert Moore, J.D., Staff Attorney
Michael Schamann, Administration and Finance
Edward Sweda, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Cara Wilking, J.D., Staff Attorney
Obesity Project
The obesity epidemic represents one of the most pressing public health problems facing the United States today and requires consistent and coordinated public health solutions. In confronting this obesity epidemic, it is essential to explore the law both as policy tool and as a health determinant. Policies that affect food, nutrition, and physical activity are rooted in complex legal systems. PHAI approaches these problems with an environmental and population focus relying on public health practice. PHAI brings together practitioners in public health and law; legal academics; researchers; and advocates to explore the effective use of the law in combating obesity and to craft solutions to complex policy problems.
For more information about PHAI’s obesity project. Contact Jason Smith
Projects
PHAI focuses on a number of project areas: tobacco control, obesity, school food environments, and the regulation of marketing. You can learn more about our obesity and tobacco projects on their pages.For more information about the Motor Vehicle Hazards Archive Project. Visit its website.
Welcome
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) is a legal research center focused on public health law. PHAI’s goal is to support and enhance a commitment to public health in individuals and institutes who shape public policy through law. We are committed to research in public health law, public health policy development; to legal technical assistance; and to collaborative work at the intersection of law and public health. Our current areas of work include tobacco control and childhood obesity.
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