Health Law

J.D.-M.P.H. and J.D.-M.D.

Instituted in 2003 by the School of Law, the School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the dual degree in public health, offered in conjunction with the Department of Public Health Sciences, offers concentrations in generalist practice and research and in health policy, law and ethics. The M.P.H. program features close collaboration with the federal Centers for Disease Control and with state and local public health offices in Virginia.

Administration of the Program 
The program is administered by a Program Committee, consisting of one or more members of the Law faculty appointed by the Dean of the School of Law, one or more members of the faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences appointed by the Dean of the Graduate Faculties, and one or more members of the faculty of the School of Medicine appointed by the Dean of the School of Medicine.

Admission to the Program 
The student is required to secure admission separately to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Law through the normal admissions processes of the two schools. The applicant will be held to the same standards as any other applicant, and the fact that s/he is a candidate for the dual-degree program will not be considered in the admissions process. Once admitted to the two schools, the student may apply for admission to the dual-degree program. Students may seek admission to the Graduate School and initiate the dual-degree program after matriculating in the School of Law. Graduate Admissions | Law School Admissions

Curriculum 
The J.D.-M.P.H. program takes four years to complete and requires a minimum of 116 credits. In effect, the program consists of the complete first-year program at the School of Law and at least three years of courses taken from the curricula of the two schools and, when appropriate, from other graduate offerings at the University. The student is required to meet all of the requirements set by the respective Schools for the award of both the J.D. and M.P.H. degrees. In the School of Law, this means the student must complete the required curriculum, meet minimum academic standards, and earn a minimum of 86 credits and six residency semesters in the School of Law. In the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, minimum requirements for the M.P.H. degree include two residency semesters; 42 credits in an approved program, including at least 30 course credits; and completion of a six-credit thesis under the supervision of a faculty advisor. NOTE: In accordance with ABA standards, J.D. degree candidates may not enroll in more than 17 credits total in any semester.

With the approval of a School of Law representative on the Program Committee, a student may receive up to 12 of the 86 credits required for the J.D. degree in appropriate graduate-level work in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or other departments at the University. In all cases, the School of Law representative must approve credit for any course taken outside the School of Law to be applied towards the J.D. degree before the student enrolls in the course. NOTE: Credit towards the J.D. degree cannot be granted for course work completed prior to matriculation at the School of Law. Similarly, with the approval of the M.P.H. program director and the associate dean for graduate programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, a student may receive up to 9 of the 42 credits required for the M.P.H. degree in appropriate work in the School of Law. No student, however, may have more than 12 credits applied toward both degrees.

Change of Status 
At any point in the program, the student may terminate plans for the dual degree program and continue towards a single degree at either school. The student then must satisfy the normal requirements of the school elected, which may include credits completed in the other school, as determined by the appropriate officials.

Financial Aid 
Financial aid will be provided by the school to which the student is paying tuition in a given semester. Financial aid is not guaranteed and is subject to individual school and University regulations and availability. Students must meet the satisfactory academic progress standards of the school providing the financial aid in a given semester.

Tuition and Fees 
J.D. degree candidates must complete six residency semesters in the School of Law and pay School of Law tuition and fees. For any semester in which a student is in full-time residence in the Department of Public Health Sciences, the student must pay tuition and fees as a regular student in that department.

Extracurricular Activities 
Students are eligible to participate in the extracurricular activities of both schools to the extent that time permits, but should be alert to the possibility of over-commitment.

Grading Standards 
Students are required to meet the grading standards of both schools independently to remain in good standing. Each school retains the right to drop students from its degree program following its usual academic standards and procedures. Course grades will be recorded on the student’s transcript in accordance with the grading system in effect at the school in which the course is offered.

For More Information Contact the Law School faculty advisor, Professor Richard J. Bonnie.

J.D.-M.D. Program

Designed to educate the next generation of health leaders, the J.D.-M.D. program allows students to complete law and medical degrees in six years, instead of the seven years normally required if the degrees were pursued separately. Students spend the first three years and the summer of year five in classes at the School of Medicine, and years four and five at the Law School. In the final year, one semester is spent in each school. Students are required to secure admission separately to the School of Medicine and UVA Law through the normal admissions processes of the two schools. More

Courses and Seminars

Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered, i.e., 2020-21 is coded (21), 2021-22 is coded (22) and 2022-23 is coded (23). (SC) stands for short course and (YR) stands for yearlong.

Clinics

Civil Rights Clinic (YR) (21,22,23)
Health and Disability Law Clinic (YR) (21,22,23)

Centers and Organizations

Student Organization

Health Law Association
The Health Law Association is open to all law, LL.M., medical, graduate and undergraduate students. The group sponsors speakers and seminars in the health law field throughout the year and organizes social activities with medical and other graduate students. More information is available here.

Research Project

MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study
The public perception that mental disorder is strongly associated with violence drives both legal policy (e.g., civil commitment) and social practice (e.g., stigma) toward people with mental disorders. This study describes and characterizes the prevalence of community violence in a sample of people recently discharged from acute psychiatric facilities at three sites. 

UVA Organizations

Department of Public Health Sciences
By assembling a multidisciplinary team and combining the expertise of the basic clinical sciences of biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, health services research, and informatics, the Department aims to provide a better understanding of the relationships among biologic discoveries, patient and population characteristics, treatment options, public health interventions, systems, and outcomes.

Center for Biomedical Ethics
The Center's mission is to advance education, research, and service concerning moral values in health care. The Center's faculty works both individually and in research teams on problems in clinical ethics, the ethics of research involving human subjects, ethics and genetics, health care organization ethics, and the history of bioethics.

Center for Global Health
The Center cultivates and promotes interdisciplinary activities to support Global Health that involve the collaboration of departments, centers, as well as professionals and students from across the university. The Center is dedicated to alleviating diseases of poverty.

Institute on Aging
The Institute aims to enrich the lives of those who are old today and those who will be old tomorrow by acting as a catalyst and coordinator for interdisciplinary research, education, and service programs within the University.

Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy
The Institute offers training, educational, research, and service programs in the areas of forensic psychiatry, forensic psychology, and mental health law. Affiliated with the University's Law School, School of Medicine, and its College of Arts & Sciences, the Institute has an interdisciplinary faculty of attorneys, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. Its Forensic Psychiatry Clinic performs clinical evaluations in a wide variety of civil and criminal cases. The Institute conducts training programs for the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services and provides continuing education for attorneys and judges. The institute also conducts extensive empirical and theoretical research in clinical criminology, forensic psychiatry/psychology, and mental health law and policy.

Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life 
The Institute fosters scholarship, education, and research in practical ethics. To this end, the Institute provides an intellectual home for faculty and students from across the University who wish to pursue interdisciplinary scholarship, research, and teaching on the complex ethical issues that underline contemporary professions, organizations, and public policy. Additionally, the Institute aims to connect, create and support programs in practical ethics throughout the University and thus create a model for ethics as an integral part of undergraduate, graduate, and professional education.

Center on Health Disparities
The Center focuses on interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research and interventions to reduce health disparities.

School of Medicine
The School of Medicine is a nationally recognized, medium-sized school with balanced programs of undergraduate and graduate medical education and with biomedical research programs nationally recognized for their stature and productivity. Law students have the opportunity to interact with faculty, residents, and students from many departments in the medical school, including the Department of Public Health Sciences and the Center for Global Health.

Event Sponsors and Lecture Series

UVA Forum on Health Law and Policy

The Forum gives faculty and students from the Schools of Law and Medicine (and elsewhere in the University) the chance to present works in progress.

Sadie Lewis Webb Program in Law and Biomedicine/Health Policy Lecture Series

Established by Earl "Duke" Collier, Law Class of 1973 in 2002 in honor of his grandmother, the Program sponsors the Sadie Lewis Webb Visiting Scholar, faculty workshops, scholarly lunch discussions, informal seminars, medical center hour presentations and symposium on health, human rights and ethics. The inaugural visitor was Dr. Albert Jonsen in October 2002 and Alta Charo in January and March of 2004. More

P. Browning Hoffman Memorial Lecture

The P. Browning Hoffman Memorial Lecture in Law and Psychiatry was established by the University of Virginia School of Law as a tribute to the life and work of P. Browning Hoffman, who held joint appointments as Professor of Law and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia, and was the founding director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy.

Previous Lecturers

• Jeffrey Swanson, Ph.D., Duke University
• Alan Stone, M.D., Harvard University
• Seymour Halleck, M.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Norval Morris, L.L.B., L.L.M., Ph.D., University of Chicago
• Loren Roth, M.D., M.P.H., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School
• Tom Grisso, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School
• John Gunn, M.D. University of London
• Robert A. Burt, M.A., J.D. Yale University
• Semyon Gluzman, M.D., Ukrainian Psychiatric Association
• 2003 Stephen J. Morse of the University of Pennsylvania Law School