Professor Robert Field will offer his expertise to leaders of Auckland University of Technology who are planning a program in the legal, policy and clinical aspects of non-communicable diseases.

Field will work in New Zealand from Oct. 3 to Nov. 9, under a grant from the Fulbright Specialist program, which the U.S. State Department maintains to send American faculty abroad for teaching and curriculum development projects.

The law school at Auckland University of Technology is nine years old. AUT’s public health school is eight years old. The university hopes to create a cross-disciplinary public health program that addresses legal, policy and public health issues associated with heart disease, diabetes, mental illnesses, malnutrition and other illnesses linked to social and environmental factors.

During his stay, Field will help plan and implement a related symposium on Oct. 11 intended to spur collaborations among faculty at AUT and neighboring universities and to broaden the program’s visibility. He will also teach at least one seminar for graduate students and meet with doctoral students.

An internationally recognized authority on law and public health, Field is the author of "Mother of Invention: How the Government Created 'Free-Market' Health Care," published by Oxford University Press in 2013.