Vicki W. Girard is the Founding Co-Director with Yael Cannon of the Georgetown University Health Justice Alliance and a Professor of Law, Legal Practice. The Health Justice Alliance is a cross-campus collaborative engaging in research, service, and academic efforts focused on training the next generation of attorneys, doctors, nurses, and other health professionals to work together to improve social determinants of health for marginalized communities. Professor Girard works closely with Georgetown University Medical Center and its partners at MedStar Health as they seek innovative ways to help patients with health-harming legal needs.

Professor Girard is a magna cum laude graduate of the Law Center. Prior to joining the faculty to teach in the first year legal writing program, she worked at several D.C. firms where she developed a specialty in food and drug law. Her interest in the intersections between law and medicine eventually led her to the medical-legal partnership (MLP) model of healthcare, which adds lawyers to the healthcare treatment team to address legal issues that contribute to health disparities at the individual, systems, and policy levels. Her passion for health justice and desire to contribute to the national MLP movement precipitated her efforts to bring this innovative service and learning approach to Georgetown.