Donna E. Levin is Chair of the Network for Public Health Law’s (Network) Advisory Board. A highly respected leader in public health law, Donna’s career spans 45 years. Donna recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Law Section of the American Public Health Association.
Donna was National Director of the Network from 2014 to 2022, where she oversaw organizational strategy and operations. Under Donna’s leadership, the Network became a trusted partner to thousands of public health departments around the country. Most notably, Donna directed the Network’s efforts to monitor and help health departments address legislative attempts to limit their legal authority in the wake of the COVID pandemic. This critical work continues today, and is integral to the Network’s continued provision of capacity building support to public health officials so they can protect and promote the health of communities.
Before joining the Network, Donna spent 26 years as General Counsel at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she had oversight of Office of General Counsel and led her team in providing guidance on statutory and regulatory authority, the development of major policy initiatives of the Department, and legislation affecting public health.
Donna was also Adjunct Professor of Public Health Law at Suffolk University School of Law, and was a lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health. She served as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies’ Committee on Guidance for Establishing Standards of Care in Disaster Situations.
Donna’s legal expertise includes the areas of newborn screening; genetics and privacy laws; health insurance consumer protections; biotechnology; emergency public health response; and public health aspects of health care and health care cost reform. She has authored numerous articles and presented on many of these topics.
Donna received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, and was a member of the Boston Bar Association’s Health Law Steering Committee.
This FAQ addresses questions of liability for health care providers when shifting to crisis operations during emergencies like the current coronavirus pandemic.
As we look at the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be, and even now are facing to some extent, the inability of health care personnel, equipment and resources to keep pace with the need for live-saving treatment, acute hospital care and intervention.
In 2020, we’re focusing on ways to further empower the public health workforce with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to support programs that will have lasting impact.
The U.S. is experiencing its highest number of measles cases in 25 years and researchers anticipate additional outbreaks, with Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami listed among the cities at high risk. Cities and states across the U.S. have been challenged by efforts to contain the spread of this highly contagious disease. Some states have moved to prohibit all vaccine exemptions while other are considering it. Other jurisdictions have felt the need to take more urgent actions, including New York City, which declared a state of emergency and ordered mandatory vaccination.
