Daniel S. Goldberg has devoted his career to studying how laws affect public health. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, legal and ethical considerations played critical roles in crafting public health policy and protecting the most vulnerable. Goldberg saw a need to better explore the interplay of public health law and ethics – as well as opportunities for improving health justice – and launched the PHEAL program at the Colorado School of Public Health with the Center for Bioethics and Humanities.
“The laws we have and the laws we don't have… have an enormous impact on who gets sick to begin with,” said Goldberg, JD, PhD, director of education at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities and director of the Public Health Ethics & Law Program (PHEAL) at the Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH).
Because the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is home to a unique concentration of top public health ethics and law experts, Goldberg’s aim is to put the campus on the map as a leader in shaping public health law. “We have the tools, resources, planning, support and expertise we need to grow pretty quickly,” Goldberg said. “And I think the need is there.”
Below, Goldberg answers questions about the bioethics center and ColoradoSPH’s joint initiative and why it’s necessary, especially now.