The interaction between health and legal issues is often poorly understood, resulting in health and justice outcomes being seen as distinct and unrelated. Health justice partnership is just one way to approach the intersection of health and justice, and fill the gaps in the way services respond to complex need.

Health Justice Conversations provide an opportunity to explore different perspectives on the concept of health justice and learn from the great work happening around the world to address health inequity and reshape systems around the people they’re here to help.

Register for single events in the Health Justice Conversations Series here

Registration for the full Health Justice Conversations series will grant you access to the following three live events, related recordings and resources:

From patients to policy

Partnerships between health and legal assistance services have assisted countless people overcome complex and intersecting problems in their lives by providing access to legal help in health settings.

But how do these collaborations leverage real systemic change from helping individuals with their health-harming legal problems?

Join us for a conversation with Bethany Hamilton, co-Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP) at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, about the opportunities for advocacy in this work, what it takes to engage in policy and systems change, and the impact it can achieve.

Live event

Wed 9th Nov 2022, 8:00 am - 9:00 am GMT+11

Recording and resources hub open*

Tues 1st Nov 2022, 5:00 pm GMT+10 through to Sat 17th Dec 2022, 5:00 pm GMT+10

*Recording will be made available in the hub from Monday 14 November 2022

Panellists

Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton is the co-Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP) at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Hamilton has spent her career working at the intersection of health equity and social justice. She most recently served as Deputy Director, State Affairs at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), where she led projects focused on expanding Medicaid, defending the Affordable Care Act, and strengthening the ability of community health centers to carry out their mission.

She advanced health care workforce development initiatives as part of NACHC’s Community HealthCorps Program, and began her career as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at Legal Assistance of Western NY, where she built a re-entry law clinic and co-managed a law student summer associate program. As a former member of NCMLP’s Advisory Council from 2014-2019, she served as a bridge between the two sectors and was part of the team that oversaw NCMLP’s transition to become a federally-funded technical assistance hub for health centers.

Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine

Tessa is the founding CEO of Health Justice Australia, established in 2016 as the national centre of excellence for health justice partnership. Originally a criminologist, she has worked in health, criminal justice and human rights organisations in Australia and internationally. She was previously Deputy CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service and was the inaugural Fulbright Professional Scholar in Nonprofit Leadership.

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Integrating social care into healthcare

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It’s well established that factors beyond healthcare have an impact on people’s health. It follows then that systems beyond healthcare can support positive health outcomes.

Join Dr Niamh Lennox-Chhugani, Chief Executive of the International Foundation for Integrated Care, for a conversation about how healthcare is integrating with social care around the world, what it takes to be effective, and the impact it can achieve.

The International Foundation for Integrated Care is a not-for-profit educational network that crosses organisational and professional boundaries to bring people together to advance the science, knowledge and adoption of integrated care policy and practice. The Foundation seeks to achieve this through the development and exchange of ideas among academics, researchers, managers, clinicians, policy makers and users and carers of services throughout the world. 

Live event took place

Wed 15th Jun 2022, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm GMT+10

Recording and resources hub currently open

through to Sat 17th Dec 2022, 5:00 pm GMT+10

Panellists

Dr Niamh Lennox-Chhugani

Dr Niamh Lennox-Chhugani is Chief Executive of the International Foundation for Integrated Care. She has 30 years of experience in evidence-based transformation in healthcare internationally as a clinician, academic and consultant. Her experience has included integrated health and education service design and provision for children in the NHS in the early 1990’s, health system policy reform in post-conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina, advising on health system reform in the Russian Federation, scaling up infectious disease programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and implementing new care models in the NHS. As a subject matter expert on integrated care as part of wider healthcare reform, she has spoken at conferences, on panels, written papers and contributed as part of international teams to health system reviews. She has a PhD from Imperial College London in organisation change in healthcare. 

Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine

Tessa is the founding CEO of Health Justice Australia, established in 2016 as the national centre of excellence for health justice partnership. Originally a criminologist, she has worked in health, criminal justice and human rights organisations in Australia and internationally. She was previously Deputy CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service and was the inaugural Fulbright Professional Scholar in Nonprofit Leadership.

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Legal need as a social determinant of health

[recording and resources only, live event has passed]

It is well recognised that there are many factors beyond healthcare that contribute to people’s health, and health inequity, including the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These are the social determinants of health.

But what role do legal and justice systems play in people’s health? And how can we use the law more strategically in the pursuit of health equity?

Join Sir Michael Marmot and Professor Sharon Friel, some of the world’s leading thinkers on the social determinants of health inequity, in a conversation with Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine about legal need as a social determinant of health and justice as an institution for impact on health inequity.

Live event took place

Wed 16th Feb 2022, 8:00 am - 9:00 am GMT+10

Recording and resources hub currently open

through to Friday 16th Dec 2022, 5:00 pm GMT+10

Panellists

Sir Michael Marmot

Sir Michael Marmot has been Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985. He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015), and Status Syndrome: how your place on the social gradient directly affects your health (Bloomsbury: 2004). Professor Marmot is the Advisor to the WHO Director-General, on social determinants of health, in the new WHO Division of Healthier Populations. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Chinese University of Hong Kong, and is the recipient of the WHO Global Hero Award.

Sharon Friel

Sharon Friel is an ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor of Health Equity and Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Governance at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), Australian National University. She was Director of RegNet from 2014-2019. Prof Friel is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia and co-Director of the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Health Equity. She was the Head of the Scientific Secretariat (University College London) of the World Health Organisation Commission on Social Determinants of Health between 2005 and 2008.

Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine

Tessa is the founding CEO of Health Justice Australia, established in 2016 as the national centre of excellence for health justice partnership. Originally a criminologist, she has worked in health, criminal justice and human rights organisations in Australia and internationally. She was previously Deputy CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service and was the inaugural Fulbright Professional Scholar in Nonprofit Leadership.

With an opening by Ashley Schram, Braithwaite Fellow in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) and Deputy Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Governance.

Please note, if you are unwaged or series registration cost is prohibitive, or you need assistance in registering or attending, please contact healthjustice@healthjustice.org.au