Jennifer Pomeranz

Jennifer L. Pomeranz

Jennifer L Pomeranz

Scroll

Associate Professor of Public Health Policy and Management

Professional overview

Professor Jennifer Pomeranz is a public health lawyer who researches policy and legal options to address the food environment, obesity, products that cause public harm, and social injustice that lead to health disparities.

Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Professor Pomeranz was an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health at Temple University and in the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple. She was previously the Director of Legal Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. She has also authored numerous peer-reviewed and law review journal articles and a book, Food Law for Public Health, published by Oxford University Press in 2016.

Professor Pomeranz leads the Public Health Policy Research Lab and regularly teaches Public Health Law and Food Policy for Public Health.

"Policy is so important because it is the most effective way to influence public health. I got into public health to change the world -- to improve health and address inequities.”

Education

BA, History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
JD, Juris Doctorate, Cornell Law School, Ithaca, NY
MPH, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA

Areas of research and study

Diet-related disease
Products that cause harm
Public Health Law
Public Health Policy
Social injustices that create health disparities

Publications

Publications

Legal and public health considerations affecting the success, reach, and impact of menu-labeling laws

Pomeranz, J. L., & Brownell, K. D. (n.d.).

Publication year

2008

Journal title

American journal of public health

Volume

98

Issue

9

Page(s)

1578-1583
Abstract
Abstract
Because the rate of consumption of away-from-home meals has increased dramatically, the distinction between requiring nutrition information for packaged but not restaurant products is no longer reasonable. Public health necessitates that nutrition labels must be included with restaurant menus as a strategy to educate consumers and address the escalation of obesity.Menu- labeling laws are being considered at the local, state, and federal levels, but the restaurant industry opposes such action. We discuss the public health rationale and set forth the government's legal authority for the enactment of menu-labeling laws. We further aim to educate the public health community of the potential legal challenges to such laws, and we set forth methods for governments to survive these challenges by drafting laws according to current legal standards.

The interplay of public health law and industry self-regulation: The case of sugar-sweetened beverage sales in schools

Mello, M. M., Pomeranz, J., & Moran, P. (n.d.).

Publication year

2008

Journal title

American journal of public health

Volume

98

Issue

4

Page(s)

595-604
Abstract
Abstract
It is increasingly recognized that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption contributes to childhood obesity. Most states have adopted laws that regulate the availability of sugarsweetened beverages in school settings. However, such policies have encountered resistance from consumer and parent groups, as well as the beverage industry. The beverage industry's recent adoption of voluntary guidelines, which call for the curtailment of sugar-sweetened beverage sales in schools, raises the question, Is further policy intervention in this area needed, and if so, what form should it take? We examine the interplay of public and private regulation of sugar-sweetened beverage sales in schools, by drawing on a 50-state legal and regulatory analysis and a review of industry self-regulation initiatives.

Contact

jlp284@nyu.edu 708 Broadway New York, NY, 10003