Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

LAWRENCE — A spring 2010 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law has been selected as the newest fellow to the school’s Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic.

Eunice Lee-Ahn will work with the clinic for 11 months through the postgraduate fellowship program established with a three-year grant from the Sunflower Foundation of Topeka.

The program is in its second year.

“We are thrilled to have Eunice as the second Medical-Legal Partnership Post-Graduate Fellow,” said Elizabeth Weeks Leonard, professor of law and director of the clinic. “Her joint degrees in law and social work make her perfect for the position. She has considerable law clinic experience working with Douglas County Legal Aid during law school. Her social work perspective and training will be invaluable assets working with clients, medical partners, attorneys and students.”

The goal of the legal clinic is to improve health and well-being by integrating legal assistance into the medical setting. The legal clinic, since January 2008, has been a partnership with Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care in Kansas City, Kan. It was expanded in 2009 to include the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Pittsburg.

Working under faculty and clinic staff supervision, law students provide legal assistance to clients referred to them through the medical clinics.

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Lee-Ahn earned a bachelor’s in philosophy from the University of Michigan, a master’s in Korean studies form Yonsei University and a joint degree in social work and law from KU.

She follows in the footsteps of Trinia Arellano, a 2009 KU law school graduate who served as the program’s inaugural fellow and now has a paid internship with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Leonard said the first year of the program was a success.

“We are so fortunate to have the Sunflower Foundation’s support for the fellowship, which allowed us to create a new position for KU law graduates committed to improving the health of underserved people through legal intervention,” she said. “The fellowship also allows us to launch our graduates into positions where they will impact society.”