Who We Are

Mission Statement

The Health Law Lab advances health care system efforts to address social determinants of health and health related social needs, improve health equity, and mitigate health disparities. We work to realize a coordinated system of comprehensive care that recognizes the foundational role of social determinants of health in improving health outcomes, shaping individual and community experiences of health care, and reducing health care costs. The Health Law Lab explores, analyzes, and nurtures innovations that address social determinants of health, and examines the legal, regulatory, and policy implications of integrating these interventions into health care delivery and financing.

The Health Law Lab is a project of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (CHLPI) that strives to educate the next generation of health care law and policy thought leaders through hands-on work with our clients, partners, and community allies.

Staff

Carmel Shachar, JD MPH

Carmel Shachar

Carmel Shachar, JD, MPH, is Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Health Law and Policy Clinic at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (CHLPI).

Shachar focuses her scholarship on law and health policy, in particular the regulation of access to care for vulnerable individuals, the use of telehealth and digital health products, and the application of public health ethics to real world questions. Her work has been published in leading health and law journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Nature Medicine, and the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, and she has been interviewed by major media outlets, such as BBC News, Politico, CNN, and Slate. She has co-edited several books, including “Innovation and Protection: The Future of Medical Device Regulation,” “Consumer Genetics: Ethical and Legal Considerations of New Technologies,” “Disability, Health, Law, and Bioethics,” “Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States,” and “COVID-19 and the Law.” She also has authored amicus briefs submitted to the United States Supreme Court on health care and access to care issues.

Katie Garfield, JD

Katie (she/her) is the Director of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School’s Whole Person Care initiative. Katie joined the Center in 2014 and currently focuses her work on the Center’s Whole Person Care initiatives, including the Center’s Health Law Lab, Food is Medicine, and Specialty Care projects. In her work on these initiatives, she has had the opportunity to work with community-based organizations, state agencies, health care providers, and coalitions to develop strategies to increase access to innovative services to address critical health and social needs. Prior to joining the Center, Katie was an associate at Ropes & Gray LLP. She is a licensed member of the Massachusetts Bar.

Emily Broad Leib, JD

Emily Broad Leib

Emily Broad Leib, JD is a Clinical Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, the nation’s first law school clinic devoted to providing legal and policy solutions to the health, economic, and environmental challenges facing our food system. She is also Faculty Director of Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. Working directly with clients and communities, Broad Leib champions community-led food system change, reduction in food waste, food security and access to healthy foods, and equity and sustainability in food production. Her scholarly work has been published in California Law Review, Wisconsin Law Review, the Harvard Law & Policy Review, the Food & Drug Law Journal, and the Journal of Food Law & Policy, among others. A recognized leader in the field, Broad Leib’s work has been covered by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, The Guardian, TIME, Politico, and The Washington Post. She also made appearances on CBS This Morning, CNN, The Today Show, and MSNBC.

Broad Leib founded the Academy of Food Law and Policy, a network of law professors researching, teaching, and mentoring on food law and policy, and served as Founding Co-Chair of the Academy of Food Law and Policy’s Board of Trustees from 2016 to 2019. Broad Leib is also the faculty supervisor for the Harvard Food Law Society and Harvard Mississippi Delta Project. Before joining Harvard Law School’s faculty, Broad Leib spent two years in Clarksdale, Mississippi as the Joint Harvard Law School/Mississippi State University Delta Fellow. She served as the Director of the Delta Directions Consortium, a group of university and foundation leaders dedicated to improving public health and fostering economic development in the Delta. Broad Leib received her B.A. from Columbia University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude.

Erika Hanson, JD

Erika Hanson

Erika Hanson (she/her) is a Clinical Instructor at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School where her work focuses on addressing the social determinants of health and reproductive justice. Through this work, she advises federal and state agencies, health care providers and community-based organizations, payers, and coalitions regarding the legal pathways and policy implementation strategies for health care financing and delivery of health-related social needs services — such as food and housing supports for those with chronic illness or high-risk pregnancy. Erika also leads the Center’s work as a partner to design cash payment as treatment pilots for seriously ill patients and their families.

Prior to joining Harvard, Erika was a Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society in New York City for nearly five years, where she represented clients, conducted class action litigation, and led policy advocacy on a wide range of health law issues. Before moving to New York, Erika was a Georgetown Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow and a Reproductive Rights & Health Legal Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. She is a licensed member of the New York State Bar.

Rachel Landauer, JD MPH

Rachel Landauer (she/her) is a Clinical Instructor at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School, where she works with partners to advocate for health care policy and practice reform. In particular, Rachel focuses on the Center’s Whole Person Care, reproductive justice, and specialty care initiatives; her projects address pressing issues including health care regulatory compliance for social care interventions, information sharing and data privacy, and the diffusion of innovative care models that promote health equity.

As part of the Health Law Lab, Rachel is especially passionate about building the capacity of organizations, through resource development, trainings, and other tools, to break down silos between the health care and social services sectors.

Rachel graduated from UCLA School of Law in May 2016 as a member of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, and with a Master of Public Health degree from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Prior to joining the Center, Rachel was an associate at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP. She is a licensed member of the California Bar.

Heather Latino, JD LLM

Heather Latino headshot Heather joined the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic in January 2023. Her work is centered on enhancing access to affordable, safe, and healthy foods by advocating for innovative measures and policy improvements in nutrition assistance programs, food systems integration, food waste reduction, and food recovery.

Prior to joining FLPC, Heather served as a Deputy Legal Director for the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, providing programmatic, legal, strategic, and ethical guidance to Legal Aid’s team of consumer and housing law attorneys who work to preserve safe and affordable housing and protect economically vulnerable consumers’ limited income and assets. Before that, Heather was a supervising attorney in the Housing and Consumer Law Units, where she mentored, coached, and supervised law students and attorneys providing direct legal services to individual clients and community organizations.

Heather is passionate about creating a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable food system and she especially enjoys working in partnership with underserved communities. She earned her Masters of Law (LL.M.) in Food and Agricultural Law at the University of Arkansas School Law and received her B.A. in political science and her J.D. from the University of Montana, both with honors. Heather is a licensed member of the District of Columbia Bar.

John Card, JD

John Card

John Card (he/they) joined the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School in 2022 as a Staff Attorney. Prior to joining the Center, John was a staff attorney at the Health Law Institute in Jamaica Plain where he provided free legal services to people living with or at high risk of HIV. His prior work focused on a variety of areas, including tenant rights, public benefit appeals, and criminal record sealing. John also has expertise in LGBTQ+ organizing, harm reduction and substance use disorder, and policing and public health. John graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in May 2019 and is a licensed member of the Massachusetts Bar.

Kristen McEnroe, JD

Kristen McEnroe headshot Kristen McEnroe joined the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) in August 2024 as a Clinical Fellow. Kristen returns to FLPC after working with the clinic while pursuing her J.D. Her portfolio currently focuses on strengthening international food donation policies and advancing Food is Medicine initiatives. Kristen is passionate about developing a food system that ensures all people have access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food. Kristen received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in May 2024 and her B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Delaware in December 2019.