These days, all of us in legal education boast of our commitment to research and teaching that reaches across disciplines, a commitment that goes under the not-so-elegant phrase “interdisciplinary.” We are all for it, we are all taking steps to advance it. But what, exactly, does it mean? And is it a fleeting fashion, or is it here to stay?

To answer these questions, look no further than our cover story, which demonstrates the promise and need for interdisciplinary teaching, research, and practice in law. The story zeroes in on our faculty, students, and alumni who work in the complex and fast-changing field of health law and policy. Expenditures on health care—including goods and services, public health activities, government administration, the net cost of health insurance, and health care investments—were 17.4 percent of the gross domestic product in 2013. But the sector is not simply a large share of the economy; to call it complex doesn’t come close to capturing it. To understand and to shape this sector certainly requires an understanding of law, the legal system, and regulation at the national, state, and local levels. But it requires much more—it requires a command of the economic forces that shape the industry; the biomedical and technological advances and the research funding that fuels them; public opinion and politics; and rigorous policy analysis.

Our feature story profiles SLS faculty, students, and graduates who are able to have an impact because they appreciate these complexities. Understanding how tax policy affects medical spending requires deep knowledge of economics; identifying the relationship between the tort system and patient safety requires empirical sophistication; predicting the consequences of public health laws requires knowledge of the effect of public opinion on the efficacy of such initiatives. And helping shape the fields as our graduates are doing, and our students will do in the future, requires a curriculum and a faculty that assume that interdisciplinary approaches are the coin of the realm. This is exactly what SLS is doing and, lest you had any doubts, the story will convince you that interdisciplinary approaches in law will not go the way of the Hula-Hoop or bell-bottoms.

And there is so much more to enjoy in this issue. In these pages, you can learn about our three new faculty and their work; picture the student experience by reading about the Environmental Law Clinic, the cannabis practicum, and the Rule of Law Program; and appreciate the profound impact of our SLS alumni by reading about Jake Heller, the founder of legal tech startup Casetext; Stevan Bunnell, the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security; Michelle Lee, the director of the Patent and Trademark Office; or Gregg Alton, the executive vice president of Gilead. And while the issue cannot quite capture the vibrancy of everyday life at SLS, it’s the next best thing if you cannot visit us sometime soon. Enjoy!