The Committee Table: Debra Cohn, Health Law Committee

Debra Cohn, Lecturer in Law, Columbia Law School
Health Law Committee Chair

When did you become interested in health law?

I was interested early on in reproductive health, but health law probably when I was an Assistant United States Attorney in Philadelphia. I specialized in fraud cases involving public funds and did a number of cases in the healthcare area involving hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors, both in terms of fraudulent billing and quality of care.

Committee Focuses

The committee’s mission is to look at efficiency, equity, affordability, and quality of care in healthcare. We have a diverse membership in terms of types of practices and expertise levels, and so we have a wide variety of topics that we’re interested in. We’ve done a program on post-Dobbs reproductive health from the healthcare providers perspective, healthcare privacy and emerging technologies–everything from wearables to apps–and artificial intelligence and health care. Some of the things that we are looking at in the future include private equity and healthcare and maternity deserts – the challenges, in particular rural areas, to reproductive health.

Why should students and new lawyers be interested?

I think the committee is a particularly wonderful opportunity for both law students and new lawyers because of the breadth of the subject matter. When you’re in law school, you can only get a short introduction to a subject matter. And when you are first out in practice, you’re often in a silo — you have a focus on one particular thing. Here, you can sit and meet committee members who are partners in law firms, people in government, people in-house at healthcare providers, doing everything from medical malpractice to health equity policy to senior residences and hospitals. If you’re trying to learn about other opportunities, this is a great place to be. Things are going to be changing in the next couple of years at the federal level in particular, and this is a great place to not only learn about them but impact them.

How has your involvement in the committee helped you grow?

I didn’t come to the committee with a great deal of knowledge about technology, and now I chair a subcommittee on artificial intelligence and healthcare because I was challenged by other people who were looking at those issues. I think it’s a wonderful place to broaden your expertise and explore what health law committee offers in your career.

Favorite part of membership

Besides the committees and the educational opportunities, [it’s] the opportunity to weigh in on some of the public policy issues. Last year, we put out a public statement that supported a New York state legislative proposal on hospital funding and medical debt. So that was very rewarding. On a personal level, it’s been a great chance to meet some really interesting lawyers dedicated to their careers and develop some good friendships.

Learn more about City Bar committees here.