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  Kory Trott

Kory Trott ’16
Intern with the Policy, Planning and Evaluation Division
Public Health Madison Dane & County
Madison, Wisconsin

Describe your summer job.
As an intern with Public Health Madison & Dane County, my assignments included creating a memo on best practices in drafting social host ordinances, which are laws that hold parents and guardians accountable if underage drinking occurs on their property. I also wrote a fact sheet informing mothers about their legal rights around breastfeeding in public, and I worked on drafting an easy-to-understand document explaining the legal requirements of local public health departments. Besides these tasks, I was given numerous opportunities to visit the agency’s direct service programs and learn about the components of a local health department.

What surprised you about the experience?
Prior to my internship I thought government and the private sector operated independently, and even antagonistically, toward each other. But this summer I saw the public health department collaborate with local healthcare providers and stakeholders on a variety of issues. For example, the department is working with the local hospitals on a community health needs assessment, which is something tax-exempt hospitals have to do as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Public Health Madison & Dane County uses its expertise to assist the hospitals in their assessment efforts. The department is helping the hospitals analyze the community’s health status, so the hospitals can develop a unified plan to impact areas of high need.

How do you think this work experience will shape the rest of your time at UW Law School?
My summer experience made me aware of the ways health law affects people, organizations and systems. Now I want to learn more about using the law as a tool for social change. I’m taking two human rights classes this fall that deal with international health policy: one on environmental law and the other on food policy. I’m also doing an externship at UW Hospital, where I’ll be working in privacy and revenue compliance.

What classes have been particularly useful in preparing you for your summer work?

I took two classes in public health law, one from Professor Alta Charo and one from Professor Sarah Davis. Both offered good foundations in health policy. In fact, I was the pilot student in Professor Davis's new online class, which gave a historical overview of public health law and also focused on the professional aspects of working in public health. The class taught me how to summarize legal terms and legal ideas in discussions with non-lawyers, which came in handy when I was working on the underage drinking project this summer.

Health Law, a class I took from Professor Sarah Coyne, focused on hospital regulations, which was helpful when we did the community health needs assessment. It gave me a better grasp of the constraints hospitals face and a better understanding of some of the choices administrators make.

Submitted by Law School News on September 21, 2015

This article appears in the categories: Summer Job Series

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