Profiles

Jill Scott: Law and Public Health

Jill Scott was raised to experience the world outside of her hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. 
“I was fortunate enough to have parents who considered cultural and life experiences to be important teachers,” she said. “They worked hard and saved their money in order to take my sister and me to many countries around the world, showing us different languages and lifestyles.”
Her love for traveling brought her to Quito, Ecuador, in a study abroad program during undergraduate studies at Oregon State University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in international studies and microbiology.

Her experience in Quito has stayed with her.
“That experience helped shape who I am. It is one of the reasons I am fascinated by the science and policy of health care, both domestically and internationally,” she said.  

In December 2008, she graduated from the UW with concurrent degrees in law and a master’s in public health. During a nine-month clinical experience for law school, Scott worked at the Refugee and Immigrant Advocacy Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free legal services to low-income refugees and immigrants in search of basic needs.  She describes the experience as “the moment where a lot of the book learning from law school became a reality.” She hopes to continue her interest in refugee populations and use her law degree as a tool to improve population health.

Curious about work in international health organizations, Scott applied and was chosen for an internship position at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, during the summer of 2008.  Funded by the Department of Global Health’s Thomas Francis, Jr., fellowship and the UW Public Interest Law Association, she worked to support the legal implementation of the newly launched International Health Regulations (IHR), a legally binding instrument on 193 countries designed to manage transnational health threats.  With a team of lawyers and health professionals, she helped to develop a “toolkit” designed to help countries fulfill their responsibilities under the IHR. 

During her three years as a concurrent-degree student at the UW, Scott was able to see how she can apply her education to her ideals and career. 
“One of the things the UW did really well was help me find my niche,” she said. “I wasn’t really the classic law student or public health student. They directed me towards people with similar interests.”

She looks forward to starting her position as a lawyer for Bennett Bigelow & Leedom, a Seattle law firm, doing work in health law.

Written in February 2009