Policy, Law, and Public Health

About This Event

Join us for a compelling panel discussion on the intersections of public health, law, and justice, featuring a keynote by Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Stephens. This event will explore how social determinants of health shape legal outcomes, the role of restorative justice, and upstream solutions to systemic inequities. A distinguished panel will examine how law and public health can work together to create healthier, more just communities. The discussion includes a Q&A session and a post-panel reception for networking.

Event topics: 

• Examine the Intersection of Law and Public Health: analyze how judicial decisions and legal frameworks influence public health policies, particularly in areas such as health equity, environmental health, and access to care.
• Evaluate Public Health-centered Approaches to Justice: explore the role of community courts, alternative sentencing programs, and harm reduction strategies in addressing substance use disorder and public health challenges within the legal system.
• Enhance Evidence-based Policy Implementation: identify barriers to translating scientific research into public health policy and discuss strategies to strengthen collaboration between policymakers, legal experts, and public health professionals.
• Address Political Polarization in Public Health Policy: discuss the challenges of implementing harm reduction strategies, substance use treatment programs, and public health emergency measures in a politically divided landscape, and identify strategies to bridge ideological divides.
• Advance Policies that Address Social Determinants of Health: examine the legal and policy strategies most effective in tackling upstream social determinants of health, such as housing, education, and economic stability and explore solutions to overcome political and structural barriers.

Attendees will be given time to ask open questions to the speakers and a reception after the event will allow for networking and mingling.

SPEAKERS

Chief Justice Debra Stephens 

The Honorable Debra L. Stephens has been a member of the Washington State Supreme Court since January 2008 and began serving a second time as the Court’s Chief Justice beginning in January 2025. She previously served on the Washington Court of Appeals, following a successful career as an appellate attorney in state and federal courts. She also taught federal and state constitutional law and appellate advocacy at Gonzaga University School of Law. Justice Stephens co-chairs the National Association of Women Judges’ Judicial Independence Committee, and has worked with USAID to train foreign judges on issues of judicial independence and the rule of law. She is a founding executive committee member of the National Courts and Sciences Institute (NCSI) currently involved in an initiative on data science and artificial intelligence, and she serves as a convener for Dividing the Waters, a National Judicial College program supporting judicial education on water law. Justice Stephens is also a member of the Washington State Civic Learning Council, and she was recently named a Rodel Judicial Fellow, joining with fellow jurists from across the United States to address the role of courts in strengthening our democracy. Justice Stephens and her husband have two grown children and a granddaughter. She enjoys golf, tennis, pickleball, and spending time outdoors.

 

Judge Mary Logan

Judge Mary Logan has been practicing law for over 37 years as a licensed attorney in California and in Washington with a broad base of experience first as a Plaintiff’s Medical Malpractice Attorney from 1988 until 1994, then Civil Defense work representing 13 cities along the Central Coast of California. She moved to Spokane, Washington in 1996 and was hired by the City of Spokane Public Defender’s Office in 1997. She was appointed to the newly minted Municipal Court bench in 2009, where she remains seated. She was Presiding Judge from 2009 through 2014 as well as from 2021-2023. As a judge, she has participated in multiple statewide committees and task forces some of which include the statewide Budget and Finance Committee, Therapeutic Courts Committee, Alternatives to Sentencing Task Force, Domestic Violence Task Force, Pre-Trial Task Force, Trial Court Sentencing and Supervision Committee, is the current Chair of the Judicial Assistance Services Program and was a member of the NSCI Judges COVID-19 Bench book Task Force and is Dean Emeritus for Judicial College as well as instructor for four years regarding Independence of the Judiciary. Judge Logan is responsible for bringing forth Community Court to Spokane – a harm reduction therapeutic-style court which stood up in 2013. She was awarded the Justice Hero Award for her work in Community Court from the Center for Justice in 2014, the Certificate of Excellence Mayoral Award for Teamwork involving her work with Community Court in 2014 and Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for her work with Veterans in Veterans’ Enhanced Therapeutic Court she stood up for the City of Spokane. She was awarded the Judicial Leadership Award in 2015 from the Access to Justice Board, and Spokane Municipal Community Court was awarded the Washington State Bar APEX Award of Merit in September 2018.

 

Francis Adewale

Francis Adewale is the current Executive President of AHANA: Eastern Washington’s preeminent Multi-Ethnic Business Association. Francis was elected as Washington State Bar Association President-Elect in May 2024. Before then, he had served two term as treasurer since 2022. Francis is one of the attorneys that helped establish Spokane Community Court. His commitment to community and movement lawyering is epitomized by his work on several community based board and activities in Eastern Washington. He has served as chair of Refugee Connections Spokane, co-chair of Spokane Homeless Coalition, Spokane County Regional Law & Justice Council’s Racial Equity Disparity Committee, member/trustee of Spokane County Bar Association and the Volunteer Lawyers Program. He is former chair of Washington State Access to Justice Board and a former member of Washington State Supreme Court’s Interpreters Commission. He is currently board member of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP). He is a founding member of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council having been reappointed thrice by Governor Jay Inslee. In addition to serving as treasurer and board member of Spokane City Credit Union, Francis and his wife also own and run a small business in Spokane. Francis is H. George Frederickson Honors Graduate of Eastern Washington University and adjunct faculty at Whitworth University as well as Gonzaga Law School. Francis was admitted to the Washington State Bar in June 2000 and has since practice as assistant public defender for the City of Spokane. A Fellow of Washington State Bar Association Leadership Institute (WLI) and ATJ Equal Justice Leadership Academy. Francis is a former recipient of City of Spokane Human Rights Award, Washington Criminal Defense Lawyers’ President Award and Spokane County Bar Association Smithmoore P. Myers Professionalism Award. Francis, along with other team members of Spokane Community Court are recipient of 2018 WSBA Apex Award. He is the 2021 recipient of the Washington Defenders Association’s President Award.

 

Lauren Jenks

Lauren Jenks, MPH, CHES, is a public health leader in Washington State. She currently serves as Assistant Secretary for Environmental Public Health at the Washington State Department of Health. She is on the board of the Washington State Public Health Association and the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association. Additionally, she serves as Clinical Faculty at the University of Washington, where she teaches Public Health Practice. Lauren is passionate about public health, the environment, and racial equity. Lauren is a woman of color living in Washington state with her spouse and two teenagers. She has a Master's degree in public health from Temple University; she is a Certified Health Education Specialist; and she earned a graduate certificate in science writing from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Michael McDonnell, Ph.D.

Dr. Michael McDonell is a Professor in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and the Director of the Promoting Research Initiatives in Substance Use and Mental Health (PRISM) Collaborative at Washington State University. He is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience developing, testing, and implementing strength-based interventions for people with addiction and mental illness in community settings. He has led multiple National Institutes of Health funded studies demonstrating that contingency management can be used to reduce alcohol and drug use in individuals living with co-occurring serious mental illness. He also led two studies demonstrating that culturally-adapted contingency management interventions are feasible and effective tools for addressing substance use disorders in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. He is currently involved in federal and state-wide efforts to disseminate contingency management, as well as similar efforts to Native communities who are implementing contingency management.

 

Location Information

This event will be held inside Jepson Center on Gonzaga University's campus. View a campus map here. The entrance to Wolff Auditorium is just inside the NE entrance of Jepson Center. The auditorium has descending stairs and accessible seating is available. 

Parking is available on the streets around Gonzaga University or in the green lots on campus and at the BARC parking garage (parking map). For attendees who cannot walk long distances, enter campus via Astor Street to be let off near Jepson Center.