Healthier law: Closing the gap in evidence around public health law

Professor Scott Burris from Temple University in the US discusses the need for empirical, policy-relevant research in order to produce greater and more equitable gains in public health through legal avenues. Professor Burris spoke of the importance of collaboration between the legal and public health communities, and of the value of lawyers understanding and adopting public health methods of inquiry to produce rigorous, policy-relevant research.

A champion of public health law research, Professor Burris told a packed seminar that public health law had achieved some of the greatest health gains of the 20th Century, but there was still little empirical research internationally into the outcomes and unintended consequences of the law.

The seminar, co-hosted by the Prevention Centre and The George Institute for Global Health, heard how a focus on informed, evidence-based decision making could produce greater and more equitable gains in public health.

The event was livestreamed and viewers around the country were able to ask questions in real time. Watch the recording below.