Health science students take on a unique set of responsibilities while preparing to enter their profession: They care for patients while still learning; they must pass licensing exams before beginning to practice; and they are required to exemplify professionalism. For these reasons and many more, teaching future healthcare practitioners demands a distinct set of skills.

Temple University's Beasley School of Law has been selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to manage a new $19 million national program that will fund interdisciplinary research exploring legal and regulatory solutions to pressing health challenges such as chronic diseases, and health emergencies including floods, bioterrorism and epidemics.

Over the past 40 years, smoking has declined by about half, thanks in part to anti-smoking media campaigns. But anti-tobacco messages and ads often face fierce opposition from the cigarette manufacturers who have worked vigorously to diminish their impact, according to Jennifer Ibrahim, Ph.D., public health professor at Temple University.