Rick Weinmeyer is a fifth-year PhD candidate in social sciences and public health at Northwestern University. He researches important questions of public health law, health policy and bioethics, and he applies mixed methods to empirical questions in health law. His dissertation explores the public toilet crisis in the United States and provides an in-depth look at the legal and policy changes needed to improve public toilet availability and accessibility.
Prior to pursuing his PhD, Rick spent four years serving as a senior research associate for the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs at the American Medical Association (AMA). During his tenure with the AMA, he researched and wrote on subjects at the intersection of health policy, public health law and medical ethics, including expanded access to unapproved drugs, religious and philosophical vaccination exemptions, and hospital mergers and their impact on patient care. Rick earned his BA in Political Science from the University of Washington, his MPhil in Sociology from Cambridge University, and his JD and MA in Health Law and Bioethics from the University of Minnesota.