Carolyn Pointer, JD

Assistant Professor, Population Science and Policy
Population Science and Policy

    About me

    Primary Responsibilities:

    In Population Science and Policy – Policy Director
    In Medical Humanities: Medical-Legal Partnerships, MD/JD program

    About:

    Carolyn Pointer, JD, joined the faculty at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and School of Law as an assistant professor in 2014. She teaches social determinants of health to undergraduate and graduate medical students. Her research focuses on the benefits of addressing patients' health-harming legal needs to both patients and medical providers through a Medical-Legal Partnership built with the Department of Family Medicine and Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation. Medical-legal partnerships train medical providers to screen patients for legal issues impacting health outcomes, make appropriate referrals to community resources, and change policies to improve community health outcomes. 

    She also has a dual faculty appointment with the Department of Population Science and Policy. Her research identifies the policy problems resulting in poor community health outcomes. In the Department of Population Science and Policy, her role is to reduce health inequities for the people of central and southern Illinois through policy change. She also coordinates the MD/JD program at the School of Medicine, and the fourth year Medical Humanities Clerkship.

    Pointer has worked with medical-legal partnerships at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, and Boston University Medical Center. As an attorney, she practiced law in Massachusetts and Virginia. Her litigation and policy work focused on improving legal and medical outcomes for low-income patients. Pointer started her career as a high school teacher.

    Gender

    Female

    Education & training

    Positions
    Assistant Professor, Population Science and Policy
    Graduate Degree
    JD, Boston University School of Law
    Undergraduate Degree
    BS in Social Studies Education, Boston University

    Academic Location

    Academic Office

    913 N Rutledge St Springfield, IL 62702
    Mail Code: 9603

    Awards

    Faculty award for community service from the Boston University School of Law