Professor Eleanor Kinney long served as a foundational scholar at the intersection of law and public health, pushing scholarship forward across the fields explored in this special issue. Yet, while this special issue is largely confined to the domestic legal space, Professor Kinney also served as an early and influential scholar on the international human right to health, and this contribution has proven central to the field of health and human rights over the past two decades. Having worked alongside Professor Kinney throughout these years, drawing on her research in framing our own scholarship, it is an honor to reflect on her seminal works that have defined the field and influenced rights-based health policy – developing the right to health under international law and implementing that right in U.S. health policy.