School of Public Health alum Eddy Atallah (SPH’18) didn’t intend on pursuing a career in law upon graduation. Like many MPH students, he had initially planned on attending medical school after receiving his degree, but a newfound interest in law began to grow during his time as a student studying epidemiology and health policy and law at SPH.

This interest was piqued even further when Atallah was named an Activist Fellow for the Activist Lab and began working directly with the Massachusetts State Legislature on a regionalization project, which aimed to restructure how public health was delivered across the Commonwealth. Throughout the year-long fellowship, he was exposed to the real-world work of healthcare attorneys for the first time and his eyes were opened to the possibility of a career at the intersection of science, healthcare, and policy.

“The trajectory of my life really shifted after I came to SPH,” he says. “As a first-generation Lebanese-American, I don’t have any lawyers in my family. I had no idea what it meant to be a part of this field, but I knew I wanted to learn more, and that is what I have been doing ever since.”

After applying to law school “on a whim,” Atallah, who recently passed the bar exam, is now a first-year associate attorney at a full practice law firm in Georgia, working across a variety of practice areas, including commercial and civil litigation, commercial transactions, and insurance defense.

One of Atallah’s favorite parts of working at his current law firm is that he is exposed to new challenges every day and is constantly growing in the field. He strongly encourages any public health student interested in policy to consider how a law background could shape their career. “Public health and law intersect at so many different points,” he says, “and there really are so many paths you can take to make an impact in this field.”

This diversity has already been reflected in Atallah’s own career so far, as he spent his summers as a student at the University of Georgia School of Law working various internships within the private, public, and judicial sectors.

As an associate for a private healthcare analytics company, he worked on in-house matters surrounding healthcare contracts and data privacy. Later, he went on to work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), conducting legal research and writing on issues related to food safety, global health, vaping, and more. While at the CDC, he also assisted with the release of the 2019 Surgeon General’s Report.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Atallah began working for the Georgia Hospital Association, where he summarized new pandemic-related legislation and emergency orders that were being released. He was also clerking for a state judge during this time, and spearheaded a project for the Georgia judiciary that compiled 25 student-created research guides analyzing various legal issues surrounding COVID-19.

“I’ve done a lot so far,” he says, “but I am still learning and building a picture of who I am as a legal professional. It has been really exciting.”

Atallah highlights that the foundational public health knowledge he gained while at SPH has provided him with unique experience and perspective that has set him apart from others. This experience, he says, has even made him the “go-to healthcare and science guy” at his current firm.

“My time at SPH has been invaluable in preparing me for the work that I am doing now,” he says. “At SPH, the community is incredibly strong and the people are so dedicated to the work that they do every day. It is such an inspiring environment to be a part of.”