The research and publication practices by which scientists produce biomedical knowledge about race and ethnicity remain largely unexamined despite increasing interest in biological explanations for health disparities by race, as well as prominent critiques by social scientists highlighting the implications of conceptualizing race as a biological category. Although a growing number of studies on lab and research practices are helping to map meanings of race and ethnicity on notions of difference and health, we still have very little understanding of the earlier funding application stage or of the resulting publications. We know that knowledge production can involve a range of different processes, including consensus building, strategic and instrumental decision making, as well as conscious and subconscious cognitive filtering, through which we direct analytic attention only to those aspects of a problem or topic that are defined as “relevant” and “important.” These processes also involve the “translation” of ideas such as race and ethnicity for different audiences (e.g., funders, other scientists, or the public), which occurs in broader contexts of cultural norms and institutional rules and practices.

Emerging fields of science often create new challenges for ethics and law. In assessing the broader societal implications of scientific discoveries, a reasonable analytical starting point is determining how the discoveries compare with existing science. If the new field is substantially similar to an established one, then the ethical and legal analyses are likely to be comparable. On the other hand, if the new scientific developments are extraordinary in kind or degree, then a new analytical framework and new approaches to ethics and law may be necessary.

Public health law research reveals significant complexities underlying the use of law as an effective tool to improve health outcomes across populations. The challenges of applying public health law in practice are no easier. Attorneys, public health officials, and diverse partners in the public and private sectors collaborate on the front lines to forge pathways to advance population health through law. Meeting this objective amidst competing interests requires strong practice skills to shift through sensitive and sometimes urgent calls for action to address known threats to the health of individuals and the community. It also necessitates objective, timely information and national and regional legal support.