This five-part webinar series examines policy surveillance and empirical legal research methods and standards, issues in global and local policy surveillance, and challenges and opportunities for the use of policy surveillance in research and policymaking.

The series builds upon the foundational work conducted by the Center for Public Health Law Research and colleagues at the January 2018 NIDA-funded Policy Surveillance Conference, as well as work conducted in the United States and internationally by researchers, advocates, policymakers and others. Support for this series was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Policy Surveillance Methods and Standards

This webinar briefly introduces the practice of policy surveillance and its role in legal epidemiology and public health law practice. It also reviews current methodological best practices for quality control and data presentation.

Presenters

• Scott Burris, JD, Professor and Director, Center for Public Health Law Research, Temple University
• Lindsay Cloud, JD, Director, Policy Surveillance Program at the Center for Public Health Law Research, Temple University
• Jane Thorpe, JD, Associate Professor, George Washington University
• Lara Cartwright-Smith, JD, MPH, Associate Professor, George Washington University
• Heidi Grunwald, JD, Director, Center for Public Health Law Research and the Institute for Survey Research, Temple University

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Global Policy Surveillance: Challenges and Opportunities

The second webinar in this series explores the challenges and opportunities for global policy surveillance, framing it within the current state of global comparative law and policy research, and describing emerging use examples, and standards and practices to support the growing field.

Presenters

• Benjamin Mason Meier, JD, LLM, PhD, Associate Professor of Global Health Policy, Zachary Taylor Smith Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
• Dominique Sprumont, PhD, Professor of Health Law, Founder and Deputy Director of the Institute of Health Law, the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Matthew Kavanagh, M.Ed, PhD, Visiting Professor of Law; Director, Global Health Policy & Governance Initiative, Georgetown Law, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
• Willetta Waisath, MPH, Senior Research Analyst, WORLD Policy Analysis Center, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
• Scott Burris, JD (moderator)

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Local Policy Surveillance: Challenges and Opportunities

This webinar explores the challenges and opportunities in local policy surveillance. It shares use cases, like CityHealth.org and others, and identifies and examines the practical and methodological barriers facing local practitioners using policy surveillance.

Presenters

• Shelley Hearne, DrPH, Principal Investigator, CityHealth.org; Visiting Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomsburg School of Public Health
• Matthew Penn, JD, MLIS, Director, Office of Public Health Law Services, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support
• Megan Hatch, PhD, Assistant Professor, Cleveland State University
• Andrew Campbell, JD, MBA, Senior Program Manager, Center for Public Health Law Research (moderator)

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Policy Surveillance for Research

This webinar looks at the use of policy surveillance in research, particularly its application and integration with other datasets and sources, and its uptake by researchers. The presenters share their experiences, and identify lessons learned and emerging best practices.

Presenters

• Aaron Gilson, MS, MSSW, PhD, Health Policy Research Scientist, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy
• Kelli Komro, PhD, Professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
• Sue Thomas, PhD, Senior Research Scientist and Director of PIRE-Santa Cruz
• Heidi Grunwald, PhD (moderator)

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Policy Surveillance for Policymaking

This final webinar in the series examines the use of policy surveillance and other scientific legal mapping methods and data used in practice. Attendees hear applications of policy surveillance in practice, and how policy surveillance may have made a difference in making, implementing and evaluating policy and policy impact on health.

Presenters

• Corey Davis, JD, MSPH, EMT-B, Deputy Director and Staff Attorney, the Network for Public Health Law
• Elizabeth Nash, Senior State Issues Manager, Guttmacher Institute
• Alex Jones, Manager Local Democracy Initiative, National League of Cities
• Adrienne Ghorashi, Esq. (Moderator)

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