PROFESSOR MAKHLOUF SELECTED TO JOIN THE ADVISORY BOARD FOR THE ATLANTIC FELLOWS FOR HEALTH EQUITY PROGRAM
March 2022 — Professor Medha D. Makhlouf was selected to join the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity (AFHE) Senior Fellows Advisory Board. The Board plays an important role in developing and informing AFHE program initiatives and building a vibrant community of Senior Fellows, all of whom have completed the fellowship program. Professor Makhlouf completed the program in 2020.
AFHE is a one-year, nonresidential fellowship program that aims to create a global network of committed leaders working across societies and nations to promote health equity. It is one of seven fellowship programs under the Atlantic Institute that are devoted to “advancing fairer, healthier, more inclusive societies.”
Professor Makhlouf’s fellowship project initially focused on a collaboration between the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, which she directs, and the International Healthcare Professionals Program, a community-based organization that provides comprehensive support to international medical graduates who have settled in central Pennsylvania and who seek to become licensed healthcare providers in the United States. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those plans and re-focused Professor Makhlouf’s on reorganizing the Clinic to operate remotely so that it could continue its core functions of providing experiential learning opportunities to law students and legal services to members of the community. The fellowship program also pivoted to remote operations, canceling three of the program’s planned in-person convenings for the year.
In February 2022, Professor attended the first in-person AFHE convening since January 2020. The three-day convening brought together more than 40 Senior Fellows from around the world to explore the theme of “Health Through the Lens of Gender, Sexuality, and Identity.” Reflecting on her reasons for applying for a position on the Board, Professor Makhlouf states, “The community of AFHE Senior Fellows has become really important to me – both as a source of inspiration and as a network for collaboration. I would be honored to use my expertise to develop and inform programming for Senior Fellows, specifically relating to health justice (law and policy for health equity), migrant health, pandemic-related immigration restrictions, and immigration law as a social determinant of health.”
During her two-year term on the Board, Professor Makhlouf looks forward to working closely with leaders in the Atlantic Fellows organization, engaging in strategic dialogue and participating in discussions that help shape the organization in the future, working with her peers, and developing her leadership skills.
Professor Medha D. Makhlouf is an Assistant Professor and Founding Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic at Penn State Dickinson Law. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Professor Makhlouf’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of health law, immigrants’ rights, and poverty law and policy. Her recent scholarship has been published in the New York University Law Review, the California Law Review Online, and the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law & Ethics. Professor Makhlouf’s work is available at https://works.bepress.com/medha-makhlouf/.