BACKGROUND

Mary Ann Chirba holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Colgate University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Boston College Law School. She holds a Doctorate of Science in Health Policy and Management as well as a Master's in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Since 1984, Professor Chirba has taught a variety of courses at Boston College Law School, including Legal Reasoning Research & Writing, Health Care Law and Policy I and II, Advocacy Writing, Advanced Legal Writing, and Product Liability Law.  In 1999, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Legal Reasoning, Research & Writing at Boston College Law School and continues to teach a variety of health law courses.  

Professor Chirba currently lectures on various health law issues at Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital of Boston, and Tufts Medical School.  A former litigator, she has also been certified by the American Health Law Association as a mediator and arbitrator.  In past years, Professor Chirba has been an adjunct faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she taught courses on Pharmaceutical Product Safety, “The Tobacco Wars,” Current Developments in Health Law, Managed Care Law & Regulation, and Medical Malpractice & Risk Management.

Her current research interests are varied and include legal protections for disabled children, the use of law and regulation to promote medical product safety, emerging federal and international guidelines for stem cell research, and federal and state health care reform, including ERISA preemption of state efforts to regulate managed care.

EDUCATION

B. A., Colgate University; J.D., Boston College; Sc. D. and M.P.H., Harvard School of Public Health.

RECENT ACTIVITIES

Guest Lecturer, Harvard Medical School; Tufts Medical School; Brandeis University / The Heller School for Social Policy & Management.

Selection Committee Member and Faculty Advisor, Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program.

Guest Lecturer, Selection Committee Member and Faculty Advisor, Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities [LEND] Fellowship Program, Children's Hospital of Boston.

Pro-bono consultant on special edcuation law to various advocacy organizations.

Other: Professor Chirba has previously served on the Board of Directors of the New England Patient Education and Advocacy Center as well as the Board of Directors of MassPRO, the Massachusetts Medical Society's Peer Review Organization. She has also assisted the Massachusetts Healthy Start Coalition in seeking state legislation to improve access to health care for indigent children, and has served as a health policy consultant to various states in addressing the increasing market penetration of managed care in financing and delivering health care.

Works in Progress:

Health Care Reform Treatise, Lexis-Nexis / Matthew Bender (January 2012).

“ERISA Preemption of Provider Reimbursement Litigation Post-PPACA: Some Things (Unfortunately) Never Change” With Alice Noble.

COURSES

Fall 2011: Legal Reasoning, Research & Writing
Spring 2012: Legal Reasoning, Research & Writing; Comparative Health Law

• With Stephanie M. Garfield, "FDA Oversight of Autologous Stem Cell Therapies: Legitimate Regulation of Drugs and Devices or Groundless Interference with the Practice of Medicine?" Journal of Health & Biomedical Law 7, no.2 (2011): 233-272.
• With E. Joan Blum, Elisabeth Keller, Judith B. Tracy, "What Legal Employers Want...and Really Need." The Second Draft 25, no.1 (Spring 2011): 4-5.
• "Avoiding the Avoidable: Why State Laws Need to Protect Kids from Airbags." Indiana Health Law Review 7 (2010): 1-22.
• With E. Joan Blum, Elisabeth Keller, and Judith B. Tracy: “Do Not Edit When You Need to Revise,” Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (15 Feb. 2010): 21.   
• "Drawing Lines in Shifting Sands: The U.S. Supreme Court's Mixed Messages on ERISA Preemption Imperil Health Care Reform,"  Journal of Legislation 36 (March 2010): 91-138.
• “ERISA Preemption of State ‘Play or Pay’ Mandates: How PPACA Clouds an Already Confusing Picture,” Journal of Health Care Law and Policy 13 (2010): 393-421.
• "Legal Issues." In Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics. 4th ed. [edited] by William Carey [and others], 965-971.  Philadelphia, PA: Saunders/Elsevier, 2009.
• With Andres Torres. "Universal Health Care in Massachusetts: Setting the Standard for National Reform." Fordham Urban Law Journal  35, no. 3 (April 2008): 409-446.
• With Carolyn M. Welshhans. "An Uncertain Risk and an Uncertain Future: Assessing the Legal Implications of Mercury Amalgam Fillings." Health Matrix 14 (2004): 293-324.
• With Frederick Anderson, E. Donald Elliott, Cynthia Farina [and others.] Regulatory Improvement Legislation: Judicial Review of Provisions Regarding Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis. Boston, MA: Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard School of Public Health, 1999.
• With Troyen A. Brennan. "Managing the Competition: Massachusetts Initiatives in Workers' Compensation." In Workers' Compensation Medical Care: Effective Measurement of Outcomes, edited by Kate Kimpan, 35-46. Cambridge, MA: Workers Compensation Research Institute, 1996.
• With Troyen A. Brennan. "The Critical Role of ERISA in State Health Reform." Health Affairs (Spring (II) 1994): 142-156.
• "Videotaping Testimony of Child Witnesses in Sexual Offense Cases." Massachusetts Law Review 71 (Winter 1986): 200-210
• "Employers' Indirect Discrimination: DeGrace v. Rumsfeld." Boston College Law Review 22 (1980): 149-156.
• "Seniority Systems: California Brewers Association v. Bryant." Boston College Law Review 22 (1980): 163-168.
• "The Scope of Federal Habeas Corpus Review: Rose v. Mitchell." Boston College Law Review 21 (1980): 948-968.