Zita Lazzarini, J.D., M.P.H.
Division Director and Associate Professor
Degrees, Universities Attended:
1979 B.A., University of California at Berkeley (History of Art)
1983 J.D., University of California Hastings College of Law
1991 M.P.H., Harvard School of Public Health (Public Health)
Brief chronology of professional career:
- 2004-present, Senior Faculty, The Center for Law and the Public's Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities
- 2002-present, Research Affiliate, University of Connecticut Center for Health/HIV Intervention and Prevention (CHIP)
- 1998-present, Director, Division of Medical Humanities, Health Law, and Ethics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
- 1997, Fellow in Medical Ethics, Division of Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School
- 1996-present, Adjunct Lecturer on Law and Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health
- 1996-98, Lecturer, Community Health Program, Tufts University
- 1993-96, Visiting Lecturer on Human Rights and Health Law, Harvard School of Public Health
- 1993-94, Visiting Lecturer, Harvard University Law School
Dr. Lazzarini has co-authored Human Rights and Public Health in the AIDS Pandemic, published by Oxford University Press in 1997. She has also co-authored national surveys on health information privacy, syringe-related laws, and HIV testing and counseling provisions which have appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). She serves as a Special Consultant for the Georgetown-Johns Hopkins Program on Law and Public Health and for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has worked with the World Health Organization on projects involving HIV-related legislation, employment policies, and human rights.
Main Responsibilities at the UConn Health Center:
Director of the Division of Medical Humanities, Health Law and Ethics, teaching, research, and service to the community.
Major Research Interests:
Public health law, privacy and confidentiality; surrogate decision-making at the end of life; HIV prevention among pregnant women and injection drug users; and health and human rights.
Current grants:
Principal Investigator (with S. Burris), Research on the Impact of Laws and Policies on Public Health; CDC/DHHS
Principal Investigator (with S. Burris and P. Case), Rapid Assessment of Drug Law and Policy in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), NIDA
Principal, Community Medicine Seminar Series; Agouron Pharmaceuticals
Co-Principal Investigator (with S. Burris), Human Subject Protection As Regulation: A Comparative, Empirical View; Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Co-Investigator, Research Methodology/Training Policy Module in Eastern Europe/Former Soviet Republic; Foundation Open Society Institute
Co-Investigator, Light, Circadian Rhythm, and Breast Cancer; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/NIH
Representative publications:
Lazzarini Z. Making Access to Pharmaceuticals a Reality: Legal Options under TRIPS and the Case of Brazil. Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 2003; 6: 103-38.
Hoffman DE, Lazzarini Z, Moulton BW. Constraints to Prescribing Medications for Pain Treatment in Connecticut, Part 1. The Pain Clinic 2002; 4(6):28-35.
Lazzarini Z, Klitzman R. HIV and the Law: Integrating Law, Policy, and Social Epidemiology. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 2002;30(4): 533-547.
Burris S, Lazzarini Z, and Gostin LO. Taking Rights Seriously in Health. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 2002;30(4):490-1.
Lazzarini Z, Elman D. Legal Options for Achieving Public Health Outcomes. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 2002; 8(5): 65-73.
Lazzarini Z. Access to HIV Drugs: Are We Changing the Two World Paradigm? Conn. J. Int'l. L. 2002; 18(1).
Goodman RA, Lazzarini Z, Moulton AD, Burris S, Elster NR, Locke PA, Gostin LO. Other Branches of Science are Necessary to Form a Lawyer: Teaching Public Health Law in Law Schools. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 2002; 30(2): 298-301.
Lazzarini Z, Bray S, Burris S. Evaluating the Impact of Criminal Laws on HIV Risk Behavior. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 2002; 30(2): 239-55. [FULL TEXT]
Lazzarini Z. What Lessons Can We Learn from the Exceptionalism Debate (Finally)? Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 2001; 29(2):149-151
Lazzarini Z, Altice F. A Review of the Legal and Ethical Issues for the Conduct of HIV-Related Research in Prisons. AIDS & Public Policy 2001; 15(3/4): 104-131.
Lazzarini Z. An analysis of Ethical Issues in Prescribing and Dispensing Syringes to Injection Drug Users. Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine 2001; 11(1): 85-128
Gostin LO, Lazzarini Z, Neslund VS, Osterholm MT. Water Quality Laws and Waterborne Diseases: Cryptosporidium and Other Emerging Pathogens. Am. J. Public Health. 2000; 90(6):847-853.
Lazzarini Z. A legal framework for clinical trials in correctional settings. Med Health RI. 2000; 83(12):386-9.
Gostin LO, Burris S, Lazzarini Z. The law and the public's health: A study of infectious disease law in the United States. Columbia Law Rev 1999 Jan; 99(1):59-128. [ABSTRACT]
Mann JM, Gostin L, Gruskin S, Brennan T, Lazzarini Z, Fineberg HV. Health and Human Rights. Health Hum Rights 1994 Fall;1(1):6-23 [FULL TEXT]
Contact Information
Division of Medical Humanities, Health Law, and Ethics
University of Connecticut School of Medicine
263 Farmington Avenue, MC 6325
Farmington, CT 06030-6325
Phone: 860.679.5494
Fax: 860.679.5464
E-mail: lazzarini@nso.uchc.edu