Abigail English, JD
Abigail English is Director of the Center for Adolescent Health and the Law in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The center is a nonprofit legal and policy organization that works nationally to promote the health of adolescents and young adults and their access to comprehensive health services.
Ms. English has worked on legal and policy issues affecting adolescents' access to healthcare for more than 25 years. She is an expert on consent, confidentiality and financial access. She has taught at the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Public Policy, the Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley and the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has participated in major litigation affecting the legal rights of children and adolescents, written numerous publications and lectured widely to youth-serving professionals.
Ms. English served on the Advisory Panel for the Adolescent Health Study of the Office of Technology Assessment (1989-1991) and the Forum on Adolescence of the Institute of Medicine (1997- 2000). She received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Adolescent Medicine from the Society for Adolescent Medicine in 2000, the Gallagher Lectureship from the Society for Adolescent Medicine in 1987 and the National Child Advocacy Award from the Young Lawyers' Division of the American Bar Association in 1997. She is Immediate Past President of the Society for Adolescent Medicine (2008-2009).
Ms. English received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her law degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley.