UHLC Alumnus Kirk Dobbins Establishes Scholarship to Support Future Health Law Leaders

June 9, 2026—When Kirk Dobbins (J.D.’93), vice president and regional counsel for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, became a University of Houston Law Center student in the early 1990s, he didn’t yet know how significant health law would become to his career. What he soon learned at the Law Center, he said, was how important early exposure and professional connections could be.

That lesson led him to establish the “Kirk L. Dobbins American Health Law Association (AHLA) Travel Scholarship Award” to help UHLC students attend AHLA’s two-day Fundamentals of Health Law Conference, which introduces new and aspiring health law professionals to core health law concepts and industry developments, and helps them connect with practitioners from across the country.

“I was thinking about how I could give back to the students coming up behind me, and this was a great way to do that,” Dobbins said. “Funding a scholarship so that law students who are in the position that I was [in] have the opportunity to go to Fundamentals, make those connections and…have the opportunity to grow their careers.”

To highlight this new scholarship, UHLC’s Health Law & Policy Institute hosted a special event “Building Your Health Law Career with the American Health Law Association (AHLA)” in March. The program featured Dobbins and Adam Laughton, partner at Greenberg Traurig LLP.  Both reflected on the role AHLA has played in their careers, and discussed opportunities for mentorship, professional development, and networking within the organization.

“We are deeply grateful to Kirk for paying forward the opportunities and professional connections that helped shape his own career,” said HLPI Director Jessica Mantel. “This scholarship will help our students see the breadth of health law practice, build relationships with lawyers in the field, and imagine the many ways they can become leaders in health law.”

Dobbins also shared his non-traditional journey to health law with students attending the event. He earned a degree in biochemistry and planned to pursue medicine originally. While conducting research at a sleep clinic, he became interested in the intersection of health care and law, which led him to pursue a law degree at UHLC.

“I was incredibly fortunate to attend the Law Center and have great professors and great experiences,” said Dobbins. “And because of that, I was connected with two leaders many years ago in the health law space who were pivotal to me connecting with AHLA.”

Dobbins found a professional home at AHLA, where he has been active for more than 30 years and previously served as a board director. He credits the organization with helping him grow his career and wanted to ensure UH law students had access to those same resources early on.

How the scholarship works

The scholarship supports 2L and 3L J.D. students, LL.M. students, and part‑time students in their third semester or beyond who have enrolled in or completed at least one health law course at UHLC.

The scholarship covers conference registration fees, hotel accommodations, and airfare. This support is designed to reduce financial barriers and expand access to meaningful professional development opportunities.

UHLC is the first law school in the country to offer this type of scholarship supporting students attending AHLA’s Fundamentals of Health Law conference.

“I would just encourage you to not only figure out where you want to go in health law but be open to possibilities,” Dobbins said to students. “There are many people that touch health law, and we wanted to make sure that AHLA was a home for all of them. The intent is for you to have a foundation and get the education there after law school, [or] while you're in law school, so you can grow from there.”