Professor Kathleen Hoke is director of the Network for Public Health Law, Eastern Region, and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She teaches the Public Health Law Clinic through which she engages law students in the work of the Network for Public Health Law and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy. She also teaches Public Health and the Law, introducing students to the legal framework within which the public health system operates.
The Network for Public Health Law was launched in September 2010 with the goal of providing technical legal assistance to national, state, and local public health professionals, their attorneys, legislators, and advocates working to develop sound public policy to improve public health. The Network for Public Health Law also develops 50-state law surveys, factsheets, issue briefs, webinars, and other useful tools on emerging and persistent public health issues. Under Professor Hoke’s direction, the Network for Public Health Law’s Eastern Region deliverables have focused on environmental health, food safety, and injury prevention. Professor Hoke has conducted research and prepared materials specifically related to hydrofracturing, medical marijuana laws, and health agency access to school health records.
Through the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy, Professor Hoke provides technical legal assistance to Maryland state and local health officials, legislators, and organizations working in tobacco control. Recent work has focused on the regulation of electronic smoking devices (vapes), prohibition on the sale of flavored tobacco products, raising the age of access to tobacco to 21, and the development of sound policies to create smoke-free multiunit housing.
Professor Hoke joined the faculty in 2002 after serving for eight years with the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland. During her tenure as an assistant attorney general, she served in the Civil Litigation Division and the Opinions and Advice Division. As a special assistant attorney general, she worked on a variety of public health initiatives, including tobacco regulation and gun control, and represented the office in multistate cases through the National Association of Attorneys General.
Professor Hoke graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1992, having served on the executive board of the Maryland Law Review and as a member of the National Moot Court Team.