Saint Louis University and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital Launch an Academic Medical-Legal Partnership

Danielle Pelfrey Duryea joins the faculty of the Center for Health Law Studies and the Saint Louis University Legal Clinics as the founding Director.

The Center for Health Law Studies and the Saint Louis University Legal Clinics proudly announce a new academic Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) among SLU LAW, SLU School of Medicine, and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.

The new MLP will train the next generation of professionals to advocate for policy change at the institutional and government levels to address social determinants of health and structural inequities. As part of multi-disciplinary care teams, law students and faculty, pediatric resident physicians and faculty, and other health professional team members will learn about, from, and with each other in both clinical and classroom settings to identify and resolve health-harming legal needs. Law faculty and law students will lead advocacy and research efforts to create clinic-level and policy solutions.  A community advisory board composed of patient families, and community-based organizations will guide the systems-change work of this MLP.

An MLP can be a catalyst for generational and structural change,” said Fred Rottnek, M.D., an affiliated faculty member with the Center for Health Law Studies and the director of community medicine in School of Medicine's Department of Family and Community Medicine. “The MLP leverages multidisciplinary education, research, and policy advocacy to improve health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities.”

“We are delighted to help launch this fantastic new endeavor and partnership between the School of Law and the School of Medicine. The patients and families of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital will definitely benefit from the expertise, experience, and coordinated focus on their well-being, and  implementation of policy solutions to overarching health care needs,” says Andrew J White, M.D., pediatrician-in-chief at Cardinal Glennon and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He holds the Robert W. Wilmott Endowed Chair and is a professor of pediatrics and pediatric rheumatology and immunology.

Danielle Pelfrey Duryea, J.D., the MLP’s inaugural director, joins the School of Law faculty from Boston University School of Law where she directed two innovative experiential courses, the Health Justice Practicum and the Compliance Policy Clinic. She has been involved in the MLP field since 2008, including co-founding Ropes & Gray LLP’s nationally-recognized pro bono MLP program and launching three other MLPs with a law school clinic as the legal partner. She has published on housing policy, health care inequities, mindfulness and law, and health justice clinic design, among other topics. Before teaching, she practiced in the government enforcement practice group at Ropes & Gray LLP. 

Before BU Law, she taught at the University of Buffalo School of Law – SUNY and completed a clinical teaching fellowship in Georgetown University Law Center’s Domestic Violence Clinic. She holds a BA from Yale University, an MA from the University of Virginia, and a JD and LLM from Georgetown University Law Center.

“I look forward to joining the movement for good health and health justice in St. Louis,” said Pelfrey Duryea. “It is especially meaningful to join a University and law school with SLU’s service mission. MLPs can be life-changing for individuals, families, and communities. Together with the School of Medicine and Cardinal Glennon, we and our students and trainees can really make an impact.”

As the newest addition to the Saint Louis University’s Legal Clinics offerings, the MLP and Pelfrey Duryea will be located in the Saint Louis University Legal Clinics. 

“For over 50 years, our legal clinics have had a tradition of providing our community with the benefit of free legal services while giving our students the opportunity to learn the law through practice,” said Kathryn Banks, J.D., dean of experiential education and director of the Children’s Permanency Clinic. “We look forward to working with our colleagues in the Center for Health Law Studies and across the University and community to put this MLP into practice.”

“SLU is uniquely positioned to offer an academic MLP that brings together a research and policy advocacy team of faculty and students that includes law, health care, and social work, public health, outcomes research, business, engineering, geospatial students, and other disciplines,” said Sidney D. Watson, J.D., Jane and Bruce Roberts Professor of Law and Scholar in Residence in the Center for Health Law Studies. “A SLU academic MLP puts into practice its Jesuit mission to educate students in service to others to bring more health, justice, and equity to our communities.”

This project is possible through the generous support of the Glennon Foundation, the Missouri Foundation for Health, and Saint Louis University.