Medical Legal Partnership Supervisor Dr. Emily Wang Wins MacArthur Grant

Dr. Emily Wang, Affiliated Faculty of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, has been awarded a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is one of this year’s 25 awardees of what is popularly known as the “genius grant.”

Wang, a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the Yale School of Medicine, is one of the medical directors of the Solomon Center’s Medical Legal Partnership Program. She co-founded the Transition Clinic Network, a national organization committed to eliminating the health impacts of mass incarceration by transforming the health system to better meet the needs of individuals returning from incarceration. Her team at the New Haven Transitions Clinic works with Solomon Center attorneys and Yale Law School students to assist patients with civil legal issues that affect their health, with a focus on issues specific to people recently released from incarceration. 

Wang’s research focuses on finding community-based solutions to the complex issues faced by people with a history of incarceration to reduce chronic illness through both prison- and community-based interventions. She also launched the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice, which is focused on clinical care through the Transitions clinic, as well as research, education, and legal scholarship.

The MacArthur Fellowship is a $800,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential, according to the foundation.