Health Law Certificate

The remarkable growth and transformation of the healthcare industry translates into a growing number of jobs for lawyers.

At the same time, meeting the challenge of educating today's practice-ready health lawyers is a new and unique enterprise. Navigating complex health law issues increasingly requires a sophisticated understanding of the confluence of science, technology and social science, something not usually taught in a more traditional, finite health law program.

Concurrently, public and private sector employers are moving away from a focus on what new health lawyers know, and instead toward what new health lawyers can do with what they know. Reflecting this focus, many employers are requiring one to two years of experience as a hiring prerequisite.

Recognizing these new dynamics, UA's Health Law Certificate Program takes a 'boots on the ground' approach, providing skills training and externships to meet the one to two year experience prerequisite to employment. This skills training and externship experience will allow graduates to hit the ground running in their first years of practice in multiple areas, such as regulatory compliance and risk management, while encouraging continuous reflection on the relationship between law, science and technology.

The Health Law Certificate for JD students

To complete the certificate, students must take a semester-long externship and four health law courses from a variety of class offerings including:

• Health Law
• Health Care Organization and Finance
• Bioethics
• Government Provision of Healthcare
• Insurance Law
• Food and Drug Law
• Civil Rights and Barriers to Access

Co-Directors of Certificate Program

Christopher V. Goff, JD, MA | Bio
In his role as CEO and General Counsel of Employers Health, Chris works with the Board of Directors to chart the organization’s overall strategy. Chris also currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of the Affordable Care Act, is an advisor to many pharmaceutical manufacturers and has served on editorial boards related to pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Daniel K. Glessner | Bio
Dan is a partner of Brouse McDowell and the Chair of the Health Care Practice Group. He focuses on corporate and health care issues and serves the needs of various hospitals, physician group practices, dialysis centers, ancillary health care companies, and other health care entities. In the wake of Health Care Reform, Dan and the Health Care Practice Group at Brouse McDowell ensure that health care clients are in compliance with all new and revised laws and help develop strategic models to respond to changes in the health care industry.

George Horvath, MD, JD, Assistant Professor | Bio
As a practicing cardiologist and academic physician, George witnessed firsthand how U.S. laws affect healthcare access and delivery. Now, after embarking on a second career in the legal profession, he is bringing his unique perspective to Akron Law. His scholarly interest focuses on the ways in which constitutional, statutory, and regulatory inputs intersect with the health care enterprise to determine the access to and quality of U.S. medical care. Professor Horvath's scholarship has explored gaps in the regulation of drug-device combination products through FDA approval and tort law, statutory and regulatory determinants of FDA-approved high-risk medical device failures, and ways in which drug labeling might be improved. Prior to his legal career, Professor Horvath was a cardiologist who specialized in the treatment of heart rhythm disorders. Read more.

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