Professor Joins Board of Law and Medicine Society.

Nicole Huberfeld, professor of health law, ethics, and human rights, has been appointed to the board of the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics (ASLME). The nonprofit organization convenes professionals in the fields of law, medicine, and ethics to protect public health, reduce health disparities, promote patient safety and quality of care, and examine biomedical science and research.

Also a professor at the School of Law, Huberfeld has been a member of ASLME since 2003 and has spoken at many of the organization’s conferences. She became a board member on January 1, and will remain in her position for at least three years.

“This organization is uniquely positioned to take up the call in academia for multidisciplinarity,” Huberfeld says. “As the name indicates, it’s about law, medicine and ethics, and ASLME really does try to fulfill that mission. It offers an opportunity to build on that long history of interdisciplinary, and bring in parties with different perspectives and interests to try to solve some of our larger healthcare reform issues.”

In addition to hosting multiple conferences and webinars each year on current health and medicine topics, ASLME also produces the peer-reviewed Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics as well as the American Journal of Law & Medicine, which is reviewed by both ASLME members and students at the School of Law.

“Sometimes it can be hard for a doctor to publish in a law journal or for a lawyer to publish in a medical journal, but ASLME invites writing from all sides,” Huberfeld says.

Huberfeld’s scholarship focuses on the cross-section of health law and constitutional law with emphasis on the role of federalism in health care, especially Medicaid. Her article “Federalizing Medicaid” was cited by the US Supreme Court in the first Affordable Care Act case, NFIB v. Sebelius. Her work also has been cited by the Delaware Supreme Court, federal district courts, and in briefs to the US Supreme Court.

Founded in 1911 as the Massachusetts Society of Examining Physicians, ASLME is one of the oldest medical societies in the country. It was the only statewide professional organization in Massachusetts that offered programs on both medical and legal issues for almost 70 years.

—Jillian McKoy