As public health environments shift, it is as important as ever to know how legal measures impact health. In this webinar, CPHLR researchers pioneering a new, rapid method of surveillance called “sentinel surveillance” will describe their work in two areas presently facing rapid change: abortion laws and reproductive rights and laws governing public health authority. The researchers will introduce the method and its application and value for these projects, and offer lessons learned and best practices for other researchers interested in applying the technique in their work. 

Sentinel surveillance is intended to swiftly identify new or rapidly evolving laws and policies to instigate faster evaluation of their effects on health and health equity. The process aspires to establish the foundation for ongoing policy surveillance, allowing researchers to determine priority candidates for future scientific legal mapping in a timely manner, which ultimately supports the creation of robust legal data that can be used to evaluate emerging laws and policies.

The Legal Epi at Lunch Webinar Series, hosted by the Center for Public Health Law Research at the Beasley School of Law, focuses on exploring in-depth methodological issues or approaches in scientific legal mapping and legal epidemiology research. Each one-hour session will include expert staff from the Center for Public Health Law Research and guest researchers and practitioners using legal epidemiology methods in a unique or innovative way and will offer best practices, technology solutions, tips, and tricks for attendees.