Last year hundreds of health law practitioners gathered in Phoenix, Arizona for the 2018 National Public Health Law Conference “Health Justice — Empowering Public Health and Advancing Health Equity.” We at ASLME proudly co-sponsored this meeting along with our long-time partner, the Network for Public Health Law. With thanks to the Robert Wood Johnson foundation for their continued support, we are able to bring together some of the brightest minds in the field to discuss current and ongoing issues in public health law and publish the papers that derive from the conference.

Attendees at this conference strategize, share, and learn practical steps toward achieving health equity, protecting vulnerable populations, and improving public health. These themes remain central topics for us at ASLME, and we value publishing new and updated approaches to combat the most serious challenges to the public's health. We thank Donna E. Levin, the Director of the Network, who led her team of co-authors in this discussion as the guest editor of this special supplement. Together Levin and her colleagues have written on topics that are difficult but important to discuss: the overdose epidemic, suicide prevention, adverse childhood experiences, gun violence, family separation, data sharing, food waste, emergency declarations — among many other interesting topics. These articles provide the backbone of the most critical public health law issues affecting our country today, and we hope this supplement issue provides some practical steps toward better health.