Aila Hoss is off to Atlanta to help the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and “Winnable Battles.”

That’s the name of the program that will be assisted by Hoss ’12, a student in the University of Oregon School of Law who was selected as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Public Health Law Fellow.

Working with the Public Health Law Program, she will serve as a visiting attorney at the CDC. "I am most looking forward to working side-by-side with other public health attorneys," Hoss said. "This is the first opportunity I will have to work with lawyers focused exclusively on advancing public health."

Hoss’ interest in public health stems from the idea that health impacts and affects everyone.

"I see public health as a social justice issue; certain groups of people around the world are disproportionately burdened by health issues," she said. "I want to help address these disparities through a legal framework."

While at the law school, Hoss crafted her own health law curriculum by selecting research and writing courses that allowed her to tailor her projects. One project, completed for Tribal Courts and Tribal Law, served as the basis of her presentation at the Public Health Law Conference last October.

"Oregon law helped me develop extensive research and writing skills and offered me the opportunities to explore my interests,” Hoss said.

Hoss previously interned at a local health nonprofit made possible by an Oregon Law Students Public Interest Fund stipend. Her current fellowship will run through Sept. 30.

- from the UO School of Law