Mark Barnes
Encyclopedia
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is a department of the Government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcement...
under the mayoralty of David Dinkins
David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins is a former politician from New York City. He was the Mayor of New York City from 1990 through 1993; he was the first and is, to date, the only African American to hold that office.-Early life:...
. He worked on the National Health Care Reform Task Force
Health care reform
Health care reform is a general rubric used for discussing major health policy creation or changes—for the most part, governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place...
in the Clinton Administration. His work includes focus on the fields of research compliance, the ethics of clinical trials, and medical privacy. He is President-Elect of the New York State Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
The New York State Bar Association , with 77,000 members, is the largest voluntary bar association in the United States.-History:The State Bar was founded with a constitution that dates to 1877...
's Health Law
Public health law
Law is an important public health tool that plays a critical role in reducing illness and premature death. Public health law examines the authority of the government at various jurisdictional levels to improve the health of the general population within societal limits and norms.Public health law...
Section.
Personal
Barnes is a native of Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, AlabamaAlabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. He is the son of Elaine Robinson and Mike Barnes, and his family has lived around Tallapoosa for generations. He is a direct descendent of Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
. Barnes plans to retire to Dadeville, where he purchased family property. He has been with his partner since 1983.
Barnes attended Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
. In 1984 Barnes graduated from Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
with a juris doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
and in 1991 he received his L.L.M. from Columbia University School of Law.
Legal scholarship
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
Law Clinic as an associate professor of the Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
. He is a Lecturer at the Yale Medical School, where he teaches each Fall. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at a number of law schools, including NYU Law School, Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School is a law school located in Brooklyn Heights, in Downtown Brooklyn, New York.-History:Founded in 1901 by William Payson Richardson and Norman P. Heffley, Brooklyn Law School was the first law school on Long Island. Using space provided by Heffley’s business school, the law...
, Cardozo Law School, and New York Law School
New York Law School
New York Law School is a private law school in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. The school is located within four blocks of all major courts in Manhattan. In 2011, New York Law School...
. He has taught courses in the ethics and law of human subject research, healthcare law
Public health law
Law is an important public health tool that plays a critical role in reducing illness and premature death. Public health law examines the authority of the government at various jurisdictional levels to improve the health of the general population within societal limits and norms.Public health law...
, public health
Public health law
Law is an important public health tool that plays a critical role in reducing illness and premature death. Public health law examines the authority of the government at various jurisdictional levels to improve the health of the general population within societal limits and norms.Public health law...
, managed care law
Managed care
...intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on...
, occupational health and safety, and law and medicine.
Barnes co-founds first ever AIDS Law Clinic
The first legal clinic addressing the AIDS crisis was begun by Barnes and Professor Deborah Greenberg at Columbia Law SchoolColumbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
to allow law students to represent persons living with AIDS in anti-discrimination cases. The program was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education and received referrals from the New York City Commission on Human Rights and the State Division of Human Rights. The clinical education director at Columbia said of Barnes: "[He] is a leader in the field, and we're lucky to have him. He's highly knowledgeable, he's litigated on a precedented discrimination case, and he's sensitive to the AIDS crisis."
Law students protest Columbia's actions over Barnes, clinic
The clinic was a success by all measure, praised by public health officials and by students as hands-on experience. But the school did not commit to its continuance. This became a controversy that made the newspapers for months. On April 12, 1989, 200 students protested Columbia Law School's attempts to close the "school's successful and much praised 'AIDS' legal clinic." They held a sit-in at the law school building to demand the faculty committee renew Barnes's contract for another year. "We thought one of the reasons for him not being reappointed is the lack of support for the clinic by the university," said Maya Wiley, 3L and protest organizer. Dean Barbara Black said the school supported the clinic, but declined to say why Barnes was not offered another one-year contract, due to expire June 30, 1989. Wiley retorted, "In all of our conversations with the powers-that-be at this school, it's been very clear to us that the clinic is in jeopardy and that there is a prevailing attitude among the powers-that-be opposed to the clinical approach."Another student, Matt Levine, put the students' concern more bluntly: "We do care about Mark Barnes because he has run the clinic extremely well. But the core issue is the continuation of the AIDS clinic."
On April 19, co-founder Deborah Green announced the school would keep the clinic open. On June 28, 1989, the Columbia Spectator reported that Barnes was reappointed and promoted from Clinic Advisor to the Assistant Clinical Professor of Law by the faculty. "I'm gratified that the clinic will continue for an additional semester, but the challenge for the Law School is going to be the continuation of the clinic after the fall semester," said Barnes.
Public service
In 1989, Barnes began working as the AIDS policy director for the New York State Department of Health. In 1992, he was appointed associate commissioner for medical and legal policy at the New York City Department of HealthNew York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is a department of the Government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcement...
. He was appointed by then-Health and Human Services Secretary
United States Department of Health and Human Services
The United States Department of Health and Human Services is a Cabinet department of the United States government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America"...
Donna Shalala
Donna Shalala
Donna Edna Shalala served for eight years as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton and has been president of the University of Miami, a private university in Coral Gables, Florida, since 2001. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest...
to the new National Human Research Protections Advisory Committee, which examined issues of ethical conduct in human medical experimentation
Human experimentation
Human subject research includes experiments and observational studies. Human subjects are commonly participants in research on basic biology, clinical medicine, nursing, psychology, and all other social sciences. Humans have been participants in research since the earliest studies...
. Barnes participated in the first-ever White House Conference on HIV and AIDS on December 6, 1995. He has been a consultant for the National Commission on AIDS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
, the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
, and the National Minority Task Force on AIDS.
Criticism
Upon selection as executive director of AIDS Action Council, Barnes's tenure with the New York department of health came under criticism by Bryan Wallace. An activist with ACT UP/Washington was quoted as saying his selection was a "commitment to mediocrity" by the AIDS community, which should have chosen a director living with AIDS. Barnes was not.Quotes
- "Simple block-granting without tough federal oversight and high standards, of Medicaid or anything else, does not serve the common good. In AIDSAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, and in all areas of disease control, the costs of block-granting without accountability are measured in lives needlessly shortened and lost." - "Being prolific allows you to give up credit from time to time."
- "With the President's signature to the 1996 Department of DefenseUnited States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
Authorization bill, the single most regressive AIDSAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
measure yet passed by Congress became law, leaving in its wake a bone-crushing devastation of life and career for 1049 activity duty service members..." - "Once the administration failed [to veto the Defense Authorization bill], it is easier to see why the presidentBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
--who is rumored to be furious at his own staff for this ineptitude--felt compelled to sign it. After all, his own staff had negotiated its final form." - "The federal government has a compelling humanitarian and financial interest in ensuing that all poor people with life-threatening diseases have access to quality medical care -- an interest that 50 individual states cannot be relied upon to understand and act on."
Recognition
- The Best Lawyers in America (2003-2006)
- Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2004-2006)
- New York Super Lawyers (2006)