Public Health Program Director
(410) 706-3531| thenson@law.umaryland.edu

Trudy Henson has been at the Center for almost ten years, joining CHHS full-time as a Law and Policy Analyst in September 2008. She became the Center’s Public Health Program Director in 2014, and since that time has worked to expand the Center’s expertise on public health emergency (PHE) law and policy. Her PHE experience has included writing numerous legal handbooks and guides on PHE law in a variety of contexts, such as for state health agencies or transportation organizations. Ms. Henson’s work typically focuses on the types of legal and policy responses and plans needed for PHEs, from man-made disasters, to Ebola, to seasonal flu. She has written about mass fatality planning and legal considerations, and helped develop one of the first alternate care site plans of its kind. Additionally, she has conducted numerous 50-state legal surveys for gap analyses of PHE law-related issues, and drafted recommended legislation to address regulatory or statutory gaps.

Ms. Henson has a Bachelor of Arts from Berry College, a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Georgia, and graduated from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (Maryland Carey Law) cum laude in 2008. She is an Adjunct Professor at the Maryland Carey Law, where she teaches “Law and Policy of Emergency Public Health Response.” Ms. Henson also teaches for the Masters of Science in Law program.

Examples of Projects include:

• National Academies of Science Transportation Research Board Legal Research Digest, Public Transit Emergency
• Preparedness against Ebola and Other Infectious Diseases: Legal Issues
• Attorney General for the Maryland Department of Health, The Public Health Emergency Preparedness Legal Handbook 2017
• Montgomery County Health Department, Emerging Infectious Disease Plan
• Hospital Coalition Resource Management Planning
• MD Department of Health– Mass Fatality Planning
• National Capital Region – Strategic Plan for Homeland Security
• Greater Baltimore Medical Center – Alternate Care Site Legal Handbook and Policy Recommendations
• Carroll County Health Department – Cities Readiness Initiative/SNS Plan Update
• Greater Baltimore Medical Center – Alternate Care Site Planning
• MD Energy Administration – Energy Assurance Planning
• MD Critical Infrastructure
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials – Public Health Toolkit
• US State Department Anti-Terrorism Assistance Executive Forum – Philippine Judiciary