Scott Burris

Scott Burris is a Professor of Law at Temple Law School and Professor in Temple's School of Public Health, where he directs the Center for Public Health Law Research. He has been a faculty member at Temple since 1991 and is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in public health law, particularly in legal epidemiology, policy surveillance, and the intersection of law with HIV/AIDS policy and substance abuse.

Professor Burris received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. His career began during the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, where he served as an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, lobbying and litigating on behalf of people with HIV. He edited the first systematic legal analysis of HIV in the United States, "AIDS and the Law: A Guide for the Public" (Yale University Press, 1987).

Burris's research focuses on how law influences public health and health behavior, with particular emphasis on developing theory and methods for effective local health governance. His work spans international public health law, legal epidemiology, policy surveillance, substance abuse policy, and housing law. He has made significant contributions to understanding the impact of law on HIV prevention, opioid overdose prevention, and pandemic response. His recent work increasingly examines methodological rigor in legal epidemiology, the application of artificial intelligence to legal analysis, and the relationship between housing law and health equity.

His extensive publication record includes over 200 books, book chapters, articles, and reports. Recent publications demonstrate his continued leadership in advancing the science of legal epidemiology, with particular attention to methodology, policy surveillance systems, and innovative applications of technology to legal analysis.

• American Public Health Association Law Section Lifetime Achievement Award (2014)
• Jay Healey Health Law Professors award (2018)

Professor Burris has served as a consultant to numerous international organizations including the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. He founded the Public Health Law Research Program for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2009, which has supported over 80 empirical studies of the impact of law on health. His research has been funded by major organizations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He is the founder of Legal Science, LLC, a private company dedicated to improving access to legal information and supporting policy surveillance practice. He also serves as an advisor to several international institutions including the Tsinghua University AIDS Institute, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Research Center for HIV/AIDS Public Policy, and the Program in Bioethics at Monash University. His work bridges academic research, practical application, and policy development in the field of public health law.