Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler, JD, MA, is Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health and of Family Medicine and Medical Science at the Alpert Medical School. She teaches in the areas of health policy, health justice, public health law and ethics, and reproductive rights and justice. Her research and writing focus on the structural and legal determinants of health and health inequity, public health law and policy, reproductive justice, maternal and child health disparities, domestic violence, poverty and social safety nets, and interprofessional health justice education.
Ms. Tobin-Tyler is an international expert in the development of medical-legal partnerships, which integrate healthcare, public health and legal services to identify, address and prevent health-harming social and legal needs of underserved patients and populations. She is senior editor and a contributor to the first textbook on the topic, Poverty, Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership, published in 2011. She is co-author with Joel Teitelbaum of Essentials of Health Justice: Law, Policy and Structural Change, 2nd edition (Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2022), which focuses on the structural and legal determinants of health injustice. She has published numerous articles, including in The New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Academic Medicine, Public Health Reports, The Lancet, Health Affairs, The Harvard Journal of Health and Human Rights, Journal of Legal Medicine, Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Journal of Health and Biomedical Law, Journal of Health Care Law and Policy, and The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.
She has been selected for several fellowships and honors, including for the Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Forum by the National Academy of Medicine, as a Public Health Law Education Faculty Fellow by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and as a fellow at the Law, Health, Justice Centre at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia.
| Tobin-Tyler E, Downie A. "Deanda v. Becerra: The Implications of the New Legal Attack on Longstanding Title X Policy." American Journal of Law & Medicine, vol. 51, no. 1, 2025, pp. 166-177. |
| Arora N, Terry S, Stevens HR, Davis VW, Sorto G, Hamilton B, Conner M, Cabrera A, Mueller SR, Casoni M, Elkhatib H, Lawton E, Tobin-Tyler E. "Health, Housing, and Justice: Two-Year Implementation Evaluation of a Health System's Multi-State Medical-Legal Partnership to Address Housing Instability." Health Serv Res, vol. 60 Suppl 3, no. Suppl 3, 2025, pp. e14620. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, White K, Dickman S. "How State Antiabortion Lawsuits and Increased Surveillance Empower Domestic Abusers." JAMA, 2025. |
| Medina C, Babbs G, Mar S, Hughto J, Tobin-Tyler E. "Medina C, Babbs G, Mar S, Hughto J, Tobin-Tyler E. What Do the Trump Executive Orders Mean For The Health Of Trans Americans?." Health Affairs Forefront, 2025. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Brown B. "The Medical, Ethical and Legal Case Against Dual Stabilization." JAMA Internal Medicine, vol. 185, no. 4, 2025, pp. 366-367. |
| Berman ML, Arias JJ, Berner Wong N, Crespo J, Goldberg D, Mason Meier B, Satchell T, Silverman RD, Tobin-Tyler E, Chriqui JF. "How to Advance Legal Education for Future Public Health Professionals." public health reports, 2024. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Adashi E. "Protecting Sexual and Reproductive Health Privacy Post-Dobbs." JAMA Internal Medicine, vol. 184, no. 8, 2024, pp. 861-862. |
| Tobin-Tyler E. "Public Health, Firearms, and Domestic Violence in US v Rahimi." JAMA Health Forum, vol. 5, no. 1, 2024, pp. e235052. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Dickman SL. "Rape, Homicide, and Abortion Bans - The Abandonment of People Subjected to Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence." New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 391, no. 4, 2024, pp. 289-292. |
| MICHEL, KATIE HANNON, WATTS, MAYA HAZARIKA, BRESLIN, JESSICA, TOBIN‐TYLER, ELIZABETH. "Stopping the Vicious Cycle: Equitable Enforcement Strategies to Achieve Safe, Stable, and Accessible Housing for People with Disabilities." The Milbank Quarterly, 2024. |
| Silverman RD, Tobin-Tyler E, Berman ML. "The Bridge Builder: Charity Scott's Expansive Vision for Lawyers, Health, and Society." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 52, no. 2, 2024, pp. 238-242. |
|
Streltzov N, van DeVenter E, Vanjani R, Tobin-Tyler E.
"A New Kind of Academic MLP: Addressing Patients’ Criminal Legal Needs to Promote Health Justice and Reduce Mass Incarceration." Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, vol. 51, no. 8, 2023, pp. 847-855.
|
| Tobin-Tyler E, Gruppuso P, Adashi E. "A Year After Dobbs: Diminishing Access To Obstetric-Gynecologic And Maternal-Fetal Care." Health Affairs Forefront, 2023. |
| Tobin-Tyler E. "Abortion Rights and the Child Welfare System: How Dobbs Exacerbates Existing Racial Inequities and Further Traumatizes Black Families." The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 51, no. 3, 2023, pp. 575-583. |
| Zero O, Tobin-Tyler E, Goldman RE. "Barriers to Disclosure of Intimate Partner Violence Among Undocumented Spanish-Speaking Immigrants in the United States." Violence against women, 2023, pp. 10778012231196055. |
| Tobin-Tyler E. "Courts’ Disregard for Women’s Health and Safety — Intimate Partner Violence, Firearms, and “History and Tradition”." New England Journal of Medicine, 2023. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Boyd-Caine T, Genn H, Ries NM. "Health Justice Partnerships: An International Comparison of Approaches to Employing Law to Promote Prevention and Health Equity." The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 51, no. 2, 2023, pp. 332-343. |
| Tobin-Tyler E. "Intimate Partner Violence, Firearm Injuries and Homicides: A Health Justice Approach to Two Intersecting Public Health Crises." The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 51, no. 1, 2023, pp. 64-76. |
| Weber AZ, Tobin-Tyler E. "Maternal Health Workforce as a Structural Driver of Postpartum Mental Health Equity: A Call to Action in Rhode Island." Rhode Island medical journal (2013), vol. 106, no. 8, 2023, pp. 50-52. |
|
Tobin-Tyler E.
"Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Maternal and Child Health Policy After Dobbs." Seton Hall Law Review, vol. 53, 2023, pp. 1577-1607.
|
| Tobin-Tyler E. "The Past and Future of Parental Rights: Politics, Power, Pluralism and Public Health." Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, vol. 30, no. 3, 2023, pp. 312-347. |
| Tobin-Tyler, Elizabeth. "A Grim New Reality — Intimate-Partner Violence after Dobbs and Bruen." New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 387, no. 14, 2022, pp. 1247-1249. |
| "Black Mothers Matter: The Social, Political and Legal Determinants of Black Maternal Health Across the Lifespan." Journal of Healthcare Law and Policy, vol. 25, 2022, pp. 49-89. |
| Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler, Joel Teitelbaum. Essentials of Health Justice: Law, Policy and Structural Change. Jones and Bartlett, 2022. |
| Spiegel J, Cohan G, Brousseau EC, Tobin-Tyler E. "On the Ethics of Mandatory Reporting of Positive Drug Tests in Newborns and Pregnant Parents at the Time of Delivery." Rhode Island medical journal (2013), vol. 105, no. 3, 2022, pp. 28-32. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Adashi EY. "The ACGME's New Paid Family and Medical Leave Policy: Just the Beginning." JABFM, vol. 36, no. 1, 2022, pp. 190-192. |
| Rosenthal AE, George P, Tobin-Tyler E, Adashi EY. "The Past and Future of Gender Nondiscrimination Policy Under the Affordable Care Act." American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 62, no. 1, 2022, pp. 128-131. |
| "Women’s Lives And Health: Mere Abstractions In The Leaked Dobbs Abortion Opinion." Health Affairs, 2022. |
| Watts MH, Michel KH, Breslin J, Tobin-Tyler E. "Equitable Enforcement of Pandemic-Related Public Health Laws: Strategies for Achieving Racial and Health Justice." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 111, no. 3, 2021, pp. 395-397. |
| Tobin-Tyler, Elizabeth, Barton Laws, M., Franco, Juliana, Jutkowitz, Eric, Morton, Samantha. "State Paid Family and Medical Leave Laws: Growth and Gaps in Coverage." Public Health Reports, vol. 136, no. 6, 2021, pp. 791-794. |
| Tobin-Tyler E. "How RBG’s Voice Shaped The Courts’ – And America’s – Views On Women’s Health For A Generation." Health Affairs, 2020. |
| Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler. "In Allocating Scarce Health Care Resources During COVID-19, Don’t Forget Health Justice." Health Affairs, 2020. |
| Mather TPS, Marin BG, Perez GM, Christophers B, Paiva ML, Oliva R, Hijaz BA, Prado AM, Jarquín MC, Moretti K, Marqués CG, Murillo A, Tobin-Tyler E. "Love in the time of COVID-19: negligence in the Nicaraguan response." The Lancet. Global health, vol. 8, no. 6, 2020, pp. e773. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Ahmad B. "Marrying Value-Based Payment and the Social Determinants of Health through Medicaid ACOs: Implications for Policy and Practice." Milbank Fund, 2020. |
| Siff EJ, Aghagoli G, Gallo Marin B, Tobin-Tyler E, Poitevien P. "SARS-CoV-2 transmission: a sociological review." Epidemiology and Infection, vol. 148, 2020, pp. e242. |
| Zero O, Kempner M, Hsu S, Haleem H, Tobin-Tyler E, Toll E. "Addressing Global Human Rights Violations in Rhode Island: The Brown Human Rights Asylum Clinic." Rhode Island medical journal (2013), vol. 102, no. 7, 2019, pp. 17-20. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Teitelbaum J. Essentials of Health Justice: A Primer. Jones and Bartlett, 2019. |
| Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler. "Health Justice in the Age of Alternative Facts and Tax Cuts: Medicaid Reform, Value-Based Care and the Social Determinants of Health." St. Louis University Journal of Health Law and Policy , vol. 29, 2019, pp. 29-57. |
|
Tobin-Tyler E.
"Integration of Medical and Social Care: Challenges, Opportunities and Next Steps for Rhode Island." Rhode Island Medical Journal, vol. 102, no. 5, 2019, pp. 20-21.
|
| Tobin-Tyler, Elizabeth, Teitelbaum, Joel B. "Medical-Legal Partnership: A Powerful Tool for Public Health and Health Justice." Public Health Reports, vol. 134, no. 2, 2019, pp. 201-205. |
| Berman, Micah L., Tobin-Tyler, Elizabeth, Parmet, Wendy E. "The Role of Advocacy in Public Health Law." The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 47, no. 2_suppl, 2019, pp. 15-18. |
| Epstein-Lubow G, Tobin-Tyler E. "Forensic Issues and Caregivers of the Elderly." Geriatric Forensic Psychiatry: Principles and Practice, Oxford University Press, 2018. |
| Beck A, Curran M, Henize A, Klein M, Parrish D, Paul E, Tobin-Tyler E. "Is Poverty Making Me Sick? An Example of the Impact of Medical-Legal Partnership on Keeping Children Healthy." Structural Competency in Mental Health and Medicine, Springer, 2018. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Hulkower RL, Kaminski JW. "Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care: Considerations and Opportunities for Policymakers, Planners and Providers." 2017. |
| Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler. "Medical-Legal Partnership in Primary Care: Moving Upstream in the Clinic." Journal of Lifestyle Medicine , vol. 13, no. 3, 2017, pp. 282-291. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Brockmann B. "Returning Home: Incarceration, Reentry, Stigma and the Perpetuation of Racial and Socioeconomic Health Inequity." Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, vol. 45, no. 4, 2017, pp. 545-557. |
| Paul, Edward G., Curran, Mallory, Tobin Tyler, Elizabeth. "The Medical–Legal Partnership Approach to Teaching Social Determinants of Health and Structural Competency in Residency Programs." Academic Medicine, vol. 92, no. 3, 2017, pp. 292-298. |
| Davis M, Tobin-Tyler E, Schwartz M. "Health Care Policy and Economics." Health Systems Science, Elsevier, 2016. |
| Mary Crossley Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler Jennifer Herbst. "Tax-Exempt Hospitals and Community Health Under the Affordable Care Act: Identifying and Addressing Unmet Legal Needs as Social Determinants of Health." public health reports, vol. 131, no. 1, 2016, pp. 195-199. |
| Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler. "Teaching Prevention: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Improving Population Health through Law and Policy." The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics , vol. 44, no. 1, 2016, pp. 62-68. |
| Tobin-Tyler E, Teitelbaum J. "Training the 21st-Century Health Care Team: Maximizing Interprofessional Education Through Medical-Legal Partnership." Academic Medicine, vol. 91, no. 6, 2016, pp. 761-5. |
| Rappaport L, Coleman N, Dumenco L, Tobin-Tyler E, Dollase RH, George P. "Future health disparity initiatives at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University." Rhode Island medical journal (2013), vol. 97, no. 9, 2014, pp. 36-9. |
| Tobin-Tyler E., Anderson, L., Rappaport, L., Shah, A., Edberg, D., Paul E. "Medical-Legal Partnership in Medical Education: Pathways & Opportunities." Journal of Legal Medicine, vol. 35, no. 1, 2014, pp. 149-177. |
| Tobin-Tyler, E. "'Small Places Close to Home’: Toward a Health and Human Rights Strategy for the U.S." Health and human rights, vol. 15, no. 2, 2013, pp. 1-17. |
| Lawton, E., Tobin-Tyler, E. "Optimizing the Health Impacts of Civil Legal Aid Interventions: The Public Health Framework of Medical-Legal Partnerships." Rhode Island Medical Journal, vol. 96, no. 7, 2013, pp. 22-26. |
|
Benfer, E., Amman, J., Bliss, L., Caley, S., Tobin-Tyler E.
"Advancing Health Law and Social Justice in the Clinic, the Classroom and the Community." Annals of Health Law, vol. 21, 2012, pp. 237-255.
|
|
Tobin-Tyler, E.
"Aligning Public Health, Health Care, Law and Policy: Medical-Legal Partnership as a Multilevel Response to the Social Determinants of Health." Journal of Health & Biomedical Law, vol. 8, 2012, pp. 211-247.
|
|
Tobin Tyler E, Rodgers M, Weintraub D.
"Bridging the Health and Legal Professions through Education and Training." Poverty, Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership, edited by Tobin Tyler, E., Lawton, E., Conroy, K., Sandel, M., Zuckerman, B, Carolina Academic Press, 2011.
|
|
Tobin Tyler E, Conroy K, Sandel M, Fu C.
"Housing: The Intersection of Affordability, Safety and Health." Poverty, Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership, edited by Tobin Tyler, E., Lawton, E., Conroy, K., Sandel, M., Zuckerman, B, Carolina Academic Press, 2011.
|
|
McAlister-Groves B, Pilnik L, Tobin-Tyler E, Liebschulz J, Bair-Merritt M.
"Personal Safety: Addressing Interpersonal and Family Violence in the Health and Legal Systems." Poverty, Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership, edited by Tobin-Tyler E, Lawton E, Conroy K, Sandel M, Zuckerman B, Durham, NC, Carolina Academic Press, 2011, pp. 345-392.
|
|
Poverty, Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership. edited by Tobin-Tyler, E. Lawton, E., Conroy, K., Sandel, M., Zuckerman, B., Carolina Academic Press, 2011.
|
|
Barron L., Harrington-Steppen S, Tobin-Tyler E, Vorenberg E.
"Don’t Do it Alone: A Community-Based, Collaborative Approach to Pro Bono." Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, vol. 233, 2010, pp. 323-351.
|
|
Tobin-Tyler, E.
"Teaching Social Justice and Health: Professionalism, Ethics, and Problem-Solving in the Medical-Legal Classroom." Global Health Governance, vol. 38, 2010, pp. 701-707.
|
|
Tobin-Tyler, E.
"Allies Not Adversaries: Teaching Collaboration to the Next Generation of Doctors and Lawyers to Address Social Inequality." Journal of Health Care Law and Policy, vol. 11, 2008, pp. 249-294.
|
Professor Tobin-Tyler is interested in the ways in which law and public policy affect the health of vulnerable and marginalized patients and populations. She studies how law serves as a structural and social driver of health by either promoting or obstructing public health and how health care, public health, law and policy may be aligned to promote prevention and reduce health inequities.
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | JD | Northeastern University |
| 1992 | MA | University of Texas at Austin |
| 1986 | BA | University of Texas at Austin |
| Postgraduate Fellowship in Public Policy | Taubman Center for Public Policy, Brown University , Public Policy | 1998-1999 | Providence, RI, United States |
President’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Governance (2025)
Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Forum by the National Academy of Medicine (2023)
Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award, Alpert Medical School (2018, 2019, 2021)
Associate Member, Law, Health, Justice Centre at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia (2018-2019)
Public Health Law Faculty Fellowship, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2014-2015)
Distinguished Advocate Award, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (2013)
Beyond the Call of Duty Award, Childhood Lead Action Project (2010)
Award for Pro Bono Services, Legal Services Corporation (2005)
American Public Health Association, Law Section
American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics
| HCL 2100 - Health Law |
| MED 2010 - Health Systems and Policy I |
| MED 2040 - Health Systems and Policy II |
| PHP 1460 - Public Health in a Changing World: Law, Policy & Justice |
| PHP 1681 - Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice |
| PHP 2080 - Public Health Law and Policy |
| PHP 2428 - Health Justice |
