The following article is part of a series featuring multidisciplinary students (JD/MBA, JD/MPA, JD/MHA and JD/MI) at Schulich.
On the first day of 1L, Dean Harding gave a rousing welcome speech listing the diverse backgrounds of the JD Class of 2026, mentioning that some students had worked in health care before coming to law school.
Providing health care in uncertain times
Lauren Rogers is a member of the Master of Health Administration (MHA)/Juris Doctor (JD) Dalhousie combined program. A 2019 graduate of the Nursing Program at Western University, Lauren practiced as an Acute Care Medicine Nurse for less than 6 months before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although she had been interested in law school, when her unit was designated as the city’s COVID unit, Lauren felt compelled to stay and help for a year before applying. This delay to the 2021 application cycle also gave Lauren the opportunity to become a Patient Care Facilitator with the unit. Reflecting on her clinical time, Lauren highlights how her entire unit came together to support the community during a challenging and uncertain time.
Leaving behind small class sizes
Lauren had never been to East Coast when applying to combined MHA/JD programs but was impressed with the quality of the healthcare administration courses at Dalhousie.
Upon arriving in Halifax in the fall of 2022, she appreciated the tight-knit nature of the 15-student MHA program. (MHA/JD students complete the first year of the MHA program with their MHA classmates before progressing to 1L.) She describes the program as an environment where nearly all professors had open-door policies. Small class sizes were not the only difference between the MHA and the JD program: MHA coursework is largely group-based and incremental throughout the semester – a stark departure from the 60-person sections and 100% exam structure of the JD program.
Despite these differences in pedagogy, Lauren looks forward to completing her MHA courses, including Analyzing the Outcomes of Healthcare, Human Resources in Healthcare and Quality Management in Healthcare in addition to elective courses in Pharmaceutical and Health Law within the law school. Lauren credits Professor Michael Hadskis, who teaches Health Law at the School of Health Administration and functions as the MHA/JD advisor, as a valuable resource in balancing the requirements of two rigorous academic programs.
The Health Administration Residency
The Health Administration Residency is a requirement that the majority of MHA/JD students complete after their MHA year, which is before their first year of law school. Lauren worked for four months with the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance in Ontario, mostly within their Risk Department working on a Workplace Violence Risk Assessment. This was Lauren’s first
experience with the governance of hospitals, seeing how the board of directors interacted with hospital leadership and how leadership interacted with government officials.
This summer, she is working as a research assistant within the School of Health Administration, coordinating the logistics of research projects about reproductive health, in-vitro fertility coverage, abortion laws, and the gamification of healthcare administration education. Lauren also worked with the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC) as a summer law student.
Lauren's Future
Participating in the 2L recruit this summer, Lauren hopes to work in Health Law at a firm in Ontario (Toronto or London) after graduation, combining clinical experience with health law and policy education to advocate for patients and healthcare practitioners.
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