For the final issue of 2023, we turn to a symposium topic as close to the overall spirit and aim of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics and its parent organization, the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, as is humanly possible. The topic of this collection of papers is, of course, “Medical-Legal Partnerships: Equity, Evolution, and Evaluation.” The papers are guest-edited by Katherine L. Kraschel, James Bhandary-Alexander, Yael Z. Cannon, Vicki W. Girard, Abbe R. Gluck, Jennifer L. Huer, and Medha D. Makhlouf. The papers were brought together for this issue by our friends at The Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School, the Georgetown University Health Justice Alliance, and Penn State Dickinson Law, with the express purpose of bringing professionals and practitioners from the worlds of medicine and law closer together, to improve outcomes for everyone from patients, their families, and their communities to the physicians and attorneys who practice together. As the editors write in their introduction, “MLPs have already proved to be a critical intervention in addressing the legal and structural bases of health inequity and injustice; it is up to all stakeholders in the system to chart the success of MLPs’ future.” This collection of papers thus maps out that future, with goals that will improve the lives of patients and their providers.
In addition to this outstanding symposium, the Winter 2023 issues of JLME contain our usual independent articles, commentaries, columns, as well as a special supplement containing papers on drug and vaccine innovation guest-edited by our Editor-in-Chief, Aaron Kesselheim. Altogether, we hope this massive bundle of writings is a good value for our readers and members. And we are glad to provide it; we are deeply grateful for your continued dedication to JLME, ASLME, and our overall mission of bringing different communities together to ask hard questions, provide innovative answers, and to make our nation and our world a better place for all.
