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LL.M. in Global Health Law and International Institutions ruler

Georgetown University Law Center in partnership with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (http://graduateinstitute.ch/) in Geneva, Switzerland offers a new Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global Health Law and International Institutions.  This innovative, intensive course of study is open to highly qualified candidates in public and private sectors with their J.D. (or a first degree in law from outside the United States) and strong interest or background in global health law and policy.  Students may begin their coursework at Georgetown on a full- or part-time basis.  After completion of one full-time semester or up to three part-time semesters at Georgetown, students will complete the program with a full-time spring semester at the Graduate Institute.

Globalization of Health Laws and Policies

Health laws and policies are increasingly transnational in the modern era. Trade, commerce, travel, environment, war, and terrorism transcend boundaries and profoundly impact individual and communal health.  Protecting the public’s health and improving individual health outcomes increasingly involves national and international innovation and collaboration through legal systems.  International institutions such as the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, the World Trade Organization, and the International Labor Organization play an important role in global health governance and in the development of global health law and policy.  A comprehensive approach to global health law involves multiple, interrelated fields including health, trade, economics, intellectual property, human rights, ethics, and national security. 

Global Health Law at Georgetown

Georgetown University Law Center offers graduate students a unique opportunity to advance their knowledge and skills through focused studies in core legal and policy courses on global health, public health, environmental health, health and human rights, bioethics, food and drug law, biotechnology, and intellectual property.  As the nation’s largest school of law, Georgetown combines outstanding, preeminent faculty with a diverse and talented student body located in Washington, D.C.  The Linda and Timothy O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law was established at Georgetown University. The Institute focuses on the study of global and national health law and features centers on global health, disease prevention and health outcomes, health regulation and governance, and health care financing and organization.

International and Development Studies at the Graduate Institute

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (http://graduateinstitute.ch/) (IHEID) is widely regarded as one of the best international law and relations institutes in Europe.  The Graduate Institute of International Studies (HEI) was one of the first higher education institutions in the world to specialize in the study of international relations.  Recently, in a move that established the Graduate Institute at the cutting edge of the field, HEI merged with the Graduate Institute of Development Studies to form IHEID.  The merger has brought even greater breadth and depth to IHEID’s research and education opportunities.  IHEID’s stellar faculty, diverse course offerings and location in Geneva, Switzerland have made it a center of excellence in the fields of international affairs and development. 

Geneva is truly the capital of global health governance.  No other foreign city has such a strong international organization presence.  With scores of official agencies and organizations and dozens of international nongovernmental organizations based in and around Geneva, it is truly an international city, bringing together policymakers, diplomats, advocates, and many other professionals whose work focuses on the most challenging issues of global health law, policy, and governance. 

Through its Global Health Programme, the Graduate Institute plays an important role in shaping the emerging field of interface between foreign policy, economics, development and health.  The Global Health Programme is focused on examining the characteristics and mechanisms that define successful global health governance at the beginning of the 21st century. It is particularly focused on deepening understanding of the shifting power balances in global health, such as the increasing influence of emerging economies and the powerful role played by new foundations, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations.

Academic Requirements and Curriculum

Students must complete a total of 12 credits at Georgetown Law, 10 of which must be from courses in Global Health Law.  As part of those 10 credits, all students pursuing the Global Health Law and International Institutions LL.M. are required to take the 2-credit course Global Health Law (Professor Taylor) and the 2-credit course Global Health Law Intensive, Problem-Based Exploration (Dean Gostin) or the 4-credit course Global Health Law (Professor Taylor). Please note that the 2-credit Global Health Law class will not be offered in 2011-12.   

In addition, the remaining credits must be completed from an array of other health courses:

Access to Health Care Coverage
Aging and Law Seminar
AIDS Law and Ethics Seminar
Alternative and Complementary Medicine: Legal Issues Seminar
Bioethics and the Law Seminar
Biotechnology and Patent Law Seminar
Biosecurity and the Law
Disability Discrimination Law
Drug Abuse and the Law: Policy, Politics and Public Health
Economic Analysis of Health Care Law
Epidemiology for Lawyers
Food and Drug Law
The Global Environment, Health and the Law
Global Risk Regulation
Health and Human Rights
Health Care Compliance, Fraud and Abuse
Health Law and Policy
Human Rights at the Intersection of Trade and Corporate Responsibility
Human Rights Obligations of Non-state Actors: Implications for Global Health
Intellectual Property in World Trade
International Assistance for Global Health
International Bioethics
International Organizations and Global Health Lawmaking
International Protection of Intellectual Property through the WTO
International Trade and Health
International Trade, Investment, and Sustainable Development: Reconciling Open Markets with Environmental and Social Concerns
Law and Healthy Lifestyles
Law and Psychiatry Seminar
Law and Regulation of Drugs, Biologics and Devices
Law and Regulation of Global Health Technologies
Medical Malpractice for Nonphysicians Seminar
Medical Law Seminar
O’Neill Colloquium: National and Global Health Law
O’Neill Institute Experiential Learning Course: Non-communicable Diseases and International Human Rights
Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Law Seminar
Public Health Law and Ethics
Public Health and International Investment Law
Research with Human Subjects
Trade, IP Rights & Public Health
The Mind and the Law

Students will be required to complete a total of 39 credits at the Graduate Institute (one Georgetown Law credit is approximately equal to three Graduate Institute credits).  24 of these credits will be from courses in international law, humanitarian law, international trade law, international environmental law, refugee law and policy, international affairs, and international development studies, including:

Global Health Diplomacy
Human Rights Through the Concepts
Treatymaking in Contemporary International Society
Judicial Interpretation of Human Rights
Terrorism and International Law
Advanced Seminar on WTO Jurisprudence
The Security Council and Issues of Responsibility
The Fight Against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
International Criminal Courts and Tribunals (Academy)
The UN and the Emerging Culture of Impunity (Academy)
Multilateral Governance and International Organizations
Global Environmental Governance
Environment, Population and Development
Managing the Global Commons
International Migration
Water Conflicts, Security and Cooperation

In addition to coursework, students will be required to complete a 15-credit internship of at least four-weeks’ full-time duration and a written report developing some of the themes and questions addressed during the internship.  It is expected that most students will complete this requirement at an international institution in Geneva such as the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, or the World Trade Organization during the six-week period between the end of the fall semester at Georgetown Law and the beginning of the spring semester at the Graduate Institute.  Many students are likely to opt to continue a relationship with the institution for which they worked during the spring semester at the Graduate Institute and some institutions offering internship opportunities may require such a continuing commitment.  With approval, some students may complete a 15-credit dissertation in place of the internship.

* Please note that not all of these courses may be offered in each academic year and some courses at Georgetown Law are offered only in the spring semester and thus would not be available to full-time students in the joint program. Additional courses at the Graduate Institute are taught only in French (for example Inégalités, exclusions et développement humain Santé internationale: nouveaux enjeux, nouveaux défis with Prof. Rainhorn) but English fluency will be sufficient for students in the Global Health Law and International Institutions LL.M. Program.

Faculty

One of the significant strengths of the Global Health Law and International Institutions LL.M. Program is the depth of full-time faculty who teach or conduct other academic activities in its extensive subject matter.  At Georgetown Law, Professor Lawrence O. Gostin, Faculty Director of the Global Health Law Program, is an internationally-known scholar in public health law, ethics, and human rights.  Additional prominent Georgetown Law faculty include: Judith Areen, M. Gregg Bloche, Sherman Cohn, Richard Diamond, Vicki Girard, Steven Goldberg, Associate Dean Nan Hunter, John Jackson, Patricia King, Susan Ross, Allyn Taylor, Jay Thomas, Carlos Vásquez, Timothy Westmoreland, Wendy Williams, and Kathryn Zeiler.

At the Graduate Institute, Professor Ilona Kickbusch, Director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute, is internationally recognized as a preeminent authority on global health diplomacy.  In addition the Graduate Institute’s faculty includes a number of professors working in related fields such as: Liliana Andonova, Andrea Bianchi, Thomas Biersteker, Andrew Clapham, Slobodan Djajic, Louise Doswald-Beck, Cédric Dupont, Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Vera Gowlland-Debbas, Marcelo Kohen, Urs Luterbacher, Joost Pauwelyn and Jean-Daniel Rainhorn. In addition, many courses are offered by a talented array of adjunct faculty with extensive expertise in their subject matter. 

Admissions

Admissions criteria for this LL.M. are contained in the admissions materials that can be accessed on the Graduate Programs Admissions Information webpage.

For more information, please contact the Georgetown University Law Center’s Graduate Admissions Office at (202) 662-9020.

Revised January 26, 2012 (MBJ)