Scott Burris, JD has been named the first recipient of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Law Section’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Health Law. Burris and his accomplishments will be recognized at the annual Law Section reception on Monday, November 17, 2014 at the APHA Annual Meeting being held in New Orleans.

The new award will be given annually to an individual who, over the course of his or her career, has made significant contributions to the field of public health law through research, teaching and mentoring, practice and advocacy.

Burris is the director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Public Health Law Research Program at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law where he is also a professor.

His work focuses on how law influences public health, and what interventions can make laws and law enforcement practices healthier in their effects. He is the author of more than 100 books, book chapters, articles and reports on issues including urban health, HIV/AIDS, research ethics, global health governance, and the health effects of criminal law and drug policy.  He has also served as a consultant to numerous U.S. and international organizations including WHO, UNODC and UNDP.  

Burris is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and Yale Law School.

To learn more about the APHA Law Section, visit: http://apha.org/apha-communities/member-sections/law