Professor Jessica Roberts is another one of the University of Houston Law Center's newest hires. Her research currently focuses on the theoretical implications of health law reform, the formation of genetic identity, and the antidiscrimination protection of genetic information.  Before joining the UH faculty, Professor Roberts was an Associate-in-Law at Columbia Law School and an Adjunct Professor of Disability Studies at the City University of New York.  Immediately after law school, she clerked for the Honorable Dale Wainwright of the Texas Supreme Court and the Honorable Roger L. Gregory of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

She took the time to answer a few questions for us, so you all can get to know her better!

1. How did you get interested in health law?

I've been writing (and teaching) in the area of disability law for several years now.  However, I really became committed to being a health law professor after Congress passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) in May 2008.  I've been so fascinated by that statute that it's played a major role in all of my scholarship ever since!

2. Are there any recent developments/ areas of health law that you would want to see discussed/taught at the Law Center?

I would love the opportunity to teach a seminar on genetic information.  Genetic information touches on so many different legal issues and areas of the law--health law, property, criminal law, privacy rights, antidiscrimination law, etc.--that I think it would be fantastic topic for a class.

3. Could you recommend any health law classes to take in the spring?

My Disabilities and the Law class, of course!  (Note: Professor Roberts will teach Disabilities and the Law 9 AM to 10:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Spring 2011)

4. What do you enjoy the most about being a professor?

I really enjoy the opportunity to interact with students.  Teaching is something that I find incredibly fun and rewarding.  As my current students will tell you, I love asking questions and having the class work through the issues together.  It keeps things interesting and engaging!  Frequently during class, a student will articulate a position or a perspective that makes me see an issue in a new light.  These are some of my favorite teaching moments.  I also love the opportunity to mentor.  I was very fortunate as a law student to have people willing to support me, and I hope to return the favor with my own students.  My door is always open and I'm excited to discuss class issues, potential note topics, summer jobs, clerkship applications, or just law school in general.

5. What's one thing about you that isn't on your CV that you're proud of?

That's a tough one!  I ran my first half-marathon in April of this year, so I'm very proud of that.  The race was in Central Park and it was forty degrees and rained the entire time.  After I finished, I ate an eggplant parmesan sandwich and half a pizza and promptly stopped running.  I might do another race at some point but probably not in the near future!

6. What is your favorite musical CD/ band? Alternatively, what are the last five songs you played on your MP3 player/computer?

My husband Dave is a composer/songwriter, so he is hands down my favorite musician!  I'm really a fan of all kinds of music, but since we moved back to Texas I've found myself listening to a lot of classic country.

Every month we'll be featuring a professor from the Health Law and Policy Institute so you can get to know them better. Our first feature is  one of two news additions to the University of Houston Law Center: Professor Jessica Mantel. 

When you ask Professor Jessica Mantel about her new appointment as co-director of the Health Law & Policy Institute at the Law Center, she instantly responds with a beaming smile.  “I’m doing exactly what I want to do – and this is the perfect place to do it,” she says.   Professor Mantel describes herself as a policy wonk, which means that she obsesses about the best ways to deliver and regulate health care in the United States.  Prior to joining the Law Center faculty, Professor Mantel worked for two government agencies in Washington, D.C., most recently as a senior attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services.   In that position, she was the lead attorney responsible for advising the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on implementing new prescription drug benefits for Medicare recipients.  “My client was CMS – and it fell to me to not only ensure that CMS complied with the law, but also to complete the due diligence and think through the consequences of various policies the agency was pursuing,” she says.  “But I am more of a ‘big picture’ person, and my work at the Law Center will allow me not only to investigate issues in health care, but also to identify the best solutions.”  Her forthcoming article in the UCLA Law Review (Setting National Coverage Standards for Health Plans Under Healthcare Reform) is a perfect example of the type of research she plans to pursue at the Health Law & Policy Institute.  Her article examines the steps that Congress can take to ensure a fair and transparent process for the development of national coverage standards.  The article is one of the first in a major journal that looks at the “rationing” of health care under the new health care reform law – and she promises that it will not be her last.  “Rationing is a volatile and controversial issue, but most economists and health policy analysts agree that it must be a part of the health-care delivery system in this country.  If rationing will be part of our future, we need to start a serious discussion of how it will be handled.  I hope that my work will help further the debate on the processes we should follow,” she says.  As her research unfolds, she says it may influence how Texas and other states connect with the national health care agenda – and she predicts the Health Law & Policy Institute will be in the thick of the discussions and debates.  “Houston has the largest medical center in the world, and it is populated with people who care about the same issues I care about.   We have a terrific health care faculty at the Law Center, and all of us are working on the cutting edge of health care issues and the law,” she says. 
                                                      
Background note:  Professor Mantel holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan, an M.P.P. from the University of Michigan School of Public Policy, and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.  After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cleveland, and specialized in health law at Ropes & Gray in Boston.