Impacts and Opportunities for Arizona: Understanding House Resolution 1 (“Big Beautiful Bill”) and Rural Health

Leila Barraza, JD, MPH

Director, Arizona Area Health Education Centers

Leila Barraza is Associate Professor at Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona.  She is the Director of the Arizona Area Health Education Centers program (AzAHEC). She also serves as a Senior Consultant with the Network for Public Health Law – Western Region Office. Her research interests include studying the impact of laws and regulations on population health.  Barraza received a Master in Public Health from the Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona in 2004. She worked for the Center for Rural Health (formerly Rural Health Office) at the Zuckerman College of Public Health following the completion of her master’s degree. Barraza provided assistance to rural and tribal hospitals and clinics regarding new medical designation opportunities, health practitioner recruitment, emergency medical services, and funding opportunities. She received her J.D. with a Certificate in Law, Science, and Technology from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, in 2008. Following her graduation from law school, Barraza served as a law clerk for the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One from 2009-2012. Prior to joining the Zuckerman College of Public Health as an Assistant Professor in 2014, Barraza served as Deputy Director of the Network for Public Health Law – Western Region Office, and a Fellow and Adjunct Professor in the Public Health Law and Policy Program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Barraza has been published in several scholarly journals, including JAMA, AJPH, Public Health Reports, Jurimetrics Journal, Annals of Health Law, and Journal for Law, Medicine, and Ethics.  Barraza has also provided numerous presentations at national and local conferences on a variety of critical public health law issues. She instructs a public health law course for public health and law students and has given special lectures in health law and public health law courses.

Dan Derksen, MD

Director, Arizona Center for Rural Health, Associate Vice President for Rural Health Workforce Development Initiatives, is a tenured Professor of Public Health in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health with joint appointments in the College of Medicine and the College of Nursing. His current service, education and research activities include informing legislative, regulatory and program policy to improve access to health care and health insurance coverage; narrowing health disparities; developing, implementing and evaluating interprofessional service-learning sites; and working to assure a well-trained and distributed health workforce to meet the health needs of all Arizonans.

James Hodge, JR., JD, LLM

Professor, ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

James G. Hodge, Jr., JD, LLM, is the Peter Kiewit Foundation Professor of Law and Director of the nationally-ranked Center for Public Health Law & Policy at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. Through scholarship, teaching, and projects, he delves into multiple areas of health law, public health law, global health law, ethics, and human rights. Professor Hodge has published more than 300 articles in journals of law, medicine, public health and bioethics; 2 books in public health law; 25+ book chapters; dozens of reports; and guest edited 4 symposium issues. He is listed among the Top 20 Most-Cited Health Law Scholars in Web of Science (2013-2017) and is ranked above the top 1% of all downloaded authors internationally in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).

Will Humble

Executive Director, Arizona Public Health Association

Will Humble is a long-time public health enthusiast and is currently the Executive Director for the Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA). His 40 years in public health include more than 2 decades at the Arizona Department of Health Services, where he served in various roles including as the Director from 2009 to 2015. He continues to be involved in health policy in his role as the Executive Director for the AZPHA. Will is a believer in using evidence-based health policy to improve health outcomes and in leading and managing with emotional intelligence. Follow him on Twitter @willhumble_az