A new supplement in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice released today introduces the broad public health practice community to the field of legal epidemiology and its principles.

The supplement, “Advancing Legal Epidemiology,” is co-sponsored by the Center for Public Health Law Research (CPHLR) and the CDC’s Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, and demonstrates the field’s application to study and evaluate chronic and non-communicable disease-related policies.

The issue features 13 original articles, including nine research studies, that illustrate a compelling and diverse body of research that exemplifies how legal epidemiology can help public health practitioners and policy makers recognize opportunities for achieving better health outcomes through law and policy.

Six of the 13 articles were written in part by the Center, or include data produced through its Policy Surveillance Program (marked with an asterisk below).

The articles in the issue include:

1. Advancing Legal Epidemiology: An Introduction, Thompson, Cloud and Gable*
2. The Growing Field of Legal Epidemiology, Burris, Cloud and Penn*
3. Translating Workforce Development Policy Interventions for Community Health Workers: Application of a Policy Research Continuum, Fulmer et al.
4. Establishing a Baseline: Evidence-Supported State Laws to Advance Stroke Care, Gilchrest et al.
5. Mapping Housing Laws in the United States: A Resource for Evaluating Housing Policies’ Impacts on Health, Moran-McCabe, Waimberg and Ghorashi*
6. Advancing Diabetes-Related Equity through Diabetes Self-Management Education and Training: Existing Coverage Requirements and Considerations for Increased Participation, Carr et al.*
7. Trends over Time and Jurisdiction Variability in Supplemental Security Income and State Supplementary Payment Programs for Children with Disabilities, Robinson et al.*
8. State Preemption: Impacts on Advances in Tobacco Control, Kang et al.
9. Mapping and Analysis of US State and Urban Local Sodium Reduction Laws, Sloan et al.
10. Variations by Education Status in Relationships between Alcohol/Pregnancy Policies and Birth Outcomes and Prenatal Care Utilization: A Legal Epidemiology Study, Roberts et al.
11. Putting Policy Into Practice: School-Level Compliance With and Implementation of State Concussion Laws, Sullivan et al.*
12. Perspectives From the Field: Using Legal Epidemiology to Advance Public Health Practice, Benjamin
13. Teaching the Future: Legal Epidemiology as a Model for Transdisciplinary Education, Gable

Guest editors for the issue are Colleen Barbero, PhD, MPPA, and Siobhan Gilchrest, JD from CDC’s Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention; Lindsay Cloud, JD and Bethany Saxon, MS, from the Center for Public Health Law Research, and Lance Gable, JD, from Wayne State University.