About Us

Public Health Law Research, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation® program at Temple University, is a national initiative to  promote effective regulatory, legal and policy solutions to improve public health.

Laws have improved the public's health by affecting behaviors (such as promoting seatbelt use and immunizations) and environments (such as regulating exposure to lead and protecting communities from the spread of infectious diseases). Laws can enable the public to make healthy choices, and they give public health agencies the authority to respond to community needs in times of crisis. Laws and law enforcement practices can also have unintended negative effects on health.

The Public Health Law Research program is dedicated to building the evidence base for laws that improve public health. We fund research, improve research methods, and make evidence more accessible to policy-makers, the media, and the public.

• Read a progress report on PHLR's first three years, commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Meet the Program Staff and National Advisory Committee