News, Resources, and Events Tagged "Public Health"
Register now! Locked in a Hotbox: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incarcerated
Event Description Locked in a Hotbox: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incarcerated will be a critical examination of how climate change impacts people who are incarcerated. Many…
Register now! A New Way Home: Medicaid & Reentry Symposium
Event Description On April 1, 2024, from 9:00AM-6:00PM (EDT) join the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (CHLPI) and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute …
Register Now! New Ideas for Substance Use Condition Treatment: Could Psychedelics Help?
Event Description New Ideas for Substance Use Condition Treatment: Could Psychedelics Help? will provide an overview of psychedelic treatments, including ibogaine and psilocybin, for substance use conditions. During…
Power and Money in Global Health: A conversation with Tim Schwab about “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire”
Event Description In this interactive, hybrid event, Alicia Ely Yamin, JD, MPH, PhD, moderated a conversation with investigative journalist and author Tim Schwab about his latest book, The Bill…
Video Available Now! Unionization in Health Care: A Health Policy and Bioethics Consortium
Event Description For millions who work in health care settings, including doctors, nurses, technicians, home health and nursing home workers, and environmental services and nutrition specialists, the difficult days of…
Video Now Available! The Pandemic’s Legal Legacy: A Book Talk with Experts on the Ethical, Legal, Regulatory, Social, and Institutional Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Event Description We marked the publication of COVID-19 and the Law: Disruption, Impact and Legacy, an edited volume based on the Petrie-Flom Center’s 2021 annual conference, published in…
From Principles to Practice: Critical Reflections on Human Rights Advocacy in Public Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response
Event Description Leading experts in health and human rights shared the capstone webinar to Harvard Petrie-Flom Center's Bill of Health symposium on the 2023 Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights…
Video now available! Aligning Criminal Practice with Addiction Science
Event Description Drawing on the science of substance use disorders (SUD), this presentation focusws on legal responses to SUD that contradict neuroscience and behavioral research, such as incarcerating individuals on…
Young, Vulnerable, and Betrayed: What can be done to help America’s most vulnerable children?
Event Description A child born in America today has a 37% chance of having their welfare investigated by the state by the time they turn 18. For black children, the probability rises…
The Quantified Worker: Book Talk
Event Description The information revolution has ushered in a data-driven reorganization of the workplace. Big data and AI are used to surveil workers and shift risk. Workplace wellness programs appraise…
Video now available! Psychedelic Law and U.S. Military Veterans
Event Description Military veterans and active-duty service members experience unique stressors and are heavily impacted by depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide. As part of the evolving psychedelic renaissance, researchers…
Video now available! Toward a More Effective, Equitable Pandemic Response
Event Description If the COVID-19 pandemic was a stress test for multilateral cooperation, the world failed both in relation to intellectual property regimes and economic solidarity. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed…
Video now available! When Misfortune Becomes Injustice: A Harvard Law School Library Book Talk
Event Description Join the HLS Library on Wednesday October 4 at 1pm ET for a HLS Library Book Talk on When Misfortune Becomes Injustice: Evolving Human Rights Struggles for Health and…
Video now available! How ChatGPT and Other Digital Tools are Transforming Medical Diagnosis
Event Description Studies have shown that ChatGPT -- a generative AI chatbot -- can help to diagnose a number of medical conditions. But generative AI is just one buzzy development…
Health Policy & Bioethics Consortia: The Indian Health Service: Improving Health Equity or Failing to Meet Obligations?
Event Description The Indian Health Service (IHS) is the federal agency responsible for delivering health care services to American Indians and Alaskan Natives. Despite treaty obligations, the IHS has been…
Abortion Politics Worldwide and the Future of Gender Equality
Event Description Please join us for a celebration of the publication of Research Handbook on International Abortion Law sponsored by the Forum for Gender Law and Policy at the…
Neuroscience & Society Virtual Career Fair
Event Description The event will feature presentations from leading experts in neuroscience & society will occur during the first hour (7-8 PM EST) & networking opportunities in the second hour (…
Hospital at Home Receives a New Lease on Life: A Promising if Uncertain Future
Though destined to sunset on May 11, 2023 at the conclusion of the 40 months-long federal Public Health Emergency (PHE), the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) program was recently extended through December 31, 2024…
2023 Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference: Health Law as Private Law
Conference Description The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School is pleased to announce plans for our 2023 annual conference: “Health Law as Private…
Feminist Revolt and the Constitution: Abortion Activism on the Island of Ireland with Dr Jane Rooney
Event Description Dr Rooney's current project uses narrative interviews on peoples' experiences in reform of the law on abortion in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to critically…
Video now available! Psychedelics in the Global South
Event Description Interest in psychedelic research is growing internationally. Scientists are advancing our understanding of the chemistry and biology of psychedelics, as well as their effects on human health, psychology,…
Video now available! The Battle for Your Brain: A conversation with Professor Nita Farahany about her new book and defending the right to think freely in the age of neurotechnology.
Event Description A new dawn of brain tracking and hacking is coming. Will you be prepared for what comes next? Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to…
Video now available! Neuroscience and Cannabis: Implications for Law and Policy
Event Description The legalization of cannabis has raised significant questions for law and public policy. In this public event, neuroscientist Dr. Yasmin Hurd explored the science of cannabis, CBD, and…
Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies
Event Description Our society has a technology problem. Many want to disconnect from screens but can’t help themselves. These days we spend more time online than ever. Some…
Video now available! When the Science Says Children But the Law Says Adults: Trying and Sentencing Youth as Adults
Event Description All 50 states have transfer laws that either allow or require children to be prosecuted in adult criminal court for certain offenses. Attorney Marsha Levick, Esq. provided an overview…
Video now available! Psychedelics in the Global North
Event Description In partnership with the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School is pleased to…
Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health: Strategies for avoiding potential data harms
Event Description Applications of algorithmic and data-driven technologies in mental health care settings are rapidly expanding. While well-designed digital technologies may be used to promote effective…
Video now available! Achieving Telehealth’s Potential: The State Policy Landscape for Interstate Telehealth Practices
Event Description Telehealth has been an invaluable tool for preserving health care access during the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, policymakers on the federal and state level moved with remarkable…
Video now available! Achieving Telehealth’s Potential: The Federal Policy Landscape for Interstate Telehealth Practices
Event Description Telehealth has been an invaluable tool for preserving health care access during the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, policymakers on the federal and state level moved with remarkable…
Video now available! Achieving Telehealth’s Potential: The Policy Landscape’s Impact on Specialty Care
Event Description Telehealth has been an invaluable tool for preserving health care access during the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, policymakers on the federal and state level moved with remarkable…
Video now available! Climate Change and Health: A Health Policy and Bioethics Consortium
Event Description As one of the largest economic sectors globally, health care represents nearly 10% of GDP spending across O.E.C.D. countries. This significant activity produces an estimated 5-10%…
Video now available! What Magic Can Teach Us About Misinformation
Event Description This panel joined together the fields of medicine, magic, and ethics. We explored how misinformation and disinformation about health is created and spread, and how expectation violation…
Video now available! Comparing Legal Approaches to Accessing Psychedelics
Event Description Voters, lawmakers, and healthcare providers are experimenting with legal approaches to accessing psychedelics. Some take medical approaches by allocating funds for research or leveraging controversial federal policies like…
Disclosed: Conflicts of Interest in the Psychedelics Ecosystem
Event Description In recent years, a growing number of observers have raised concerns about conflicts of interests in the growing psychedelics industry. Beginning with a discussion of cases that have…
Informed Consent in Psychedelic Therapy and Research: Why is it Complicated?
Event Description As psychedelics are quickly becoming implemented into the Western therapeutic medical model, ethical codes and boundaries are essential to ensure safe practices with these substances. An important topic…
Violence in Healthcare: A Growing Crisis
Event Description The threat of violence in the sanctum of the hospital and in the outpatient setting is growing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 63% increase in violent attacks…
Video now available! What Can the Psychedelics Industry Learn from Cannabis Regulation?
Event Description Psychedelics have recently become a serious topic of legal reform and intense commercial investment. In the past few years, dozens of cities and states have enacted or proposed…
Video now available! Book Talk: Choose Your Medicine: Freedom of Therapeutic Choice in America
Event Description On November 3rd, we hosted a book talk and moderated discussion with author Lewis A. Grossman on his new book, Choose Your Medicine: Freedom of Therapeutic Choice in…
Video now available! Life Sentences for Children?: The Neuroscientific Basis for Limitations on Harsh Sentencing
Event Description Neuroscience is playing a key role in legal decisions about children and young adults serving life sentences. The US Supreme Court relied upon research on adolescent brain development…
Video now available! Abortion Rights and Reproductive Justice in Latin America: Recent Landmark Decisions from Mexico and Colombia
Viewing Options Watch the fully captioned event recording. Read the event coverage: Liz Mineo, "Lesson from Latin America for U.S. abortion rights movement," The Harvard Gazette (October 26, 2022). …
Race and Psychedelics: How Can We Do Better?
Event Description There have been many supported theories as to whether and how psychedelics and plant medicines can further our perception and understanding of identity. However, we still see systemic…
Call for Papers: Northeastern University School of Law Annual Health Law Conference, Northeastern University School of Law, Center for Health Policy and Law
From the call: Health misinformation and disinformation are creating significant harms to public health and health care systems across the globe. The US Office of the Surgeon General has…
Video now available! FDA and Emergency Response
Learn more about the FDA’s emergency response to issues such as COVID-19, monkeypox, and infant formula. On September 20th, we hosted a discussion of these topics and more…
Video now available! Creating Sustainable Infrastructure for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Online Viewing View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #PandemicPreparedness. Watch the fully captioned event recording. Event Description The COVID-19 pandemic has reinvigorated the national and global…
Video now available! Dobbs v. Jackson: Understanding the Post-Roe Landscape
Online Viewing Watch the fully captioned event video. Read the event coverage: Brett Milano, "'A seismic moment in Constitutional history:' Experts in law and medicine examine the…
Videos now available! 2022 Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference: Diagnosing in the Home: The Ethical, Legal, and Regulatory Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Diagnostics and Therapeutics Outside of Traditional Clinical Settings
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, health care delivery was already shifting away from the clinic and into the home, utilizing telehealth, wearable sensors, ambient surveillance, and other products. The…
How Serious Is Monkeypox?
Health officials are tracking more than 100 cases of confirmed or suspected monkeypox that have appeared in countries where the disease does not typically occur, including Australia, Belgium, Canada,…
Video now availble! Considering the Needs of the Vulnerable in the Next Stage of the Pandemic
Online Viewing View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #COVID22. Watch the fully captioned event recording. Event Description After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is flagging…
Video now available! The Science of Addiction
View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #LawAndNeuro. View the fully captioned event recording. Event Description Advances in the scientific understanding of addiction have important…
Video now available! Roe in Limbo: A Townhall on the Leaked Dobbs Opinion
Online Viewing View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #RoeInLimbo. View the fully captioned event recording. Event Description The leak of a draft opinion for Dobbs…
Video now available! Allocating Scarce Medical Resources: Equity and Justice Concerns
Online Viewing View the conversation at Twitter @PetrieFlom using #CrisStanCare. Watch the fully captioned recording. Event Description Crisis standards of care are guidelines that inform health care systems…
Video now available! Medical Justice and the Carceral State, Part 3: The Doctor's White Coat vs. The Officer's Uniform: Who Calls the Shots?
Online Viewing View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #MedicalJustice. Watch the fully captioned event recording. Event Description Who decides when people in prison will receive…
Legal experts express shock at rare Supreme Court leak on major abortion rights case: ‘Highly disturbing’
Legal experts expressed shock and concern on Monday evening after Politico released what it says is a draft opinion on a major abortion rights case that's still…
Stamping Out the Medicaid Coverage Gap: An ACA Imperative
In one of its most striking features, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded Medicaid eligibility for nearly all U.S. citizens and legal resident adults between the…
When it comes to removing mask mandates, who should decide — the law, or public health?
"I think from a social point of view, it's a really unsatisfying answer to say 'okay, well, people should just decide," said Carmel Shachar, executive director of Harvard Petrie-Flom…
Video now available! Neuroscience and Cannabis: Implications for Law and Policy
Watch the fully captioned event recording. Read the event coverage: Clea Simon, "Neuroscientist says jury still out on addictive qualities, effects on neurodevelopment of fetuses, adolescents," The…
Health Priority Setting with Alicia Yamin
Alicia Yamin spoke about her work on fostering meaningful citizen participation in health priority setting during a recent CHDS seminar. Yamin is a lecturer on Law and Senior Fellow…
Video now available! A Macro View of Microdosing
View the conversationon Twitter @PetrieFlom using #POPLAR. Watch the fully captioned event recording. Event Description Microdosing psychedelics involves consuming doses that are one-twentieth to one-tenth the size of standard…
Supplying International Aid Effectively: Ethics and Law
Confronting pandemics and improving health in low-income countries requires ambitious public health plans. Global health responses to HIV/AIDS and multidrug resistant tuberculosis can provide guidance on how to garner…
Incremental benefits of novel pharmaceuticals in the UK: a cross-sectional analysis of NICE technology appraisals from 2010 to 2020
Objectives: To evaluate the incremental value of new drugs across disease areas receiving favourable coverage decisions by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) over…
Video now available! Health Justice in the Americas: The Role of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #HealthJusticeAm. Watch the fully captioned event recording Read the event coverage: Jonathan A. Cosgrove and Tarah D. Gilles, "Legal Experts Discuss…
Petrie-Flom Center Hosts Discussion About the Criminalization of Addiction
Harvard Law School’s Petrie-Flom Center hosted a virtual panel on the highly publicized court case Commonwealth v. Eldred on Thursday afternoon. The event — entitled “The Criminalization…
Video now available! The Criminalization of Addiction: Law, Medicine, and Future Directions
View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #LawAndNeuro. Read the press coverage of the event: Danish Bajwa and Dorcas Y. Gadri, "Petrie-Flom Center Hosts…
Interview with Prof. Christopher Robertson on the outcomes and implications of cases in which patients sued hospitals for access to ivermectin.
Christopher Robertson is a professor at the Boston University School of Law. Stephen Morrissey, the interviewer, is the Executive Managing Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Video now available! Setting a National Psychedelic Policy Agenda
View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #POPLAR. View the fully captioned event video. Event Description As the psychedelic renaissance unfolds, groups are forming to identify national policy…
“I’d feel like someone was watchin’ me… watching for a good reason”: perceptions of data privacy, access, and sharing in the context of real-time PrEP adherence monitoring among HIV-negative MSM with
Once-daily oral tenofovir/emtricitabine is highly effective as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV but is dependent on adherence, which may be challenging for men who have sex with men (MSM)…
Health Care Fraud: The Leading Violation of the False Claims Act
It is a sign of the times when the lion's share of the schemes intent on defrauding the federal government are in the health care arena. Data reported by…
Surge in Chicago violence highlights teens in trouble and efforts to save them: ‘The stakes feel higher.’
The realistic painting in vivid colors by Adolfo Davis shows two sides of the same street, one bathed in sunlight with a college and an art center and the word …
Step Therapy’s Balancing Act — Protecting Patients while Addressing High Drug Prices
The debate regarding step therapy reflects a tension between two important policy goals: safeguarding patients’ access to high-quality care and constraining spending on prescription drugs, including by limiting the…
Patient Assistance Programs and the Anti-Kickback Statute: Charting a Pathway Forward
In the US health care system, as millions of patients remain uninsured and many more experience substantial cost exposures through deductibles, coinsurance, and co-payments,1 some have turned to patient…
Intellia Stock Has Tumbled. There Are Issues With Gene-Editing Patents.
Shares of gene-editing leader Intellia Therapeutics have dropped 35% since late February, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decided it would not grant patents that Intellia relied on in…
When Desperate Patients Go to Court for Unproven Treatments — The Battle for Hospital Independence
During the Covid-19 pandemic, patients have asked courts to compel hospitals to administer unproven therapies, including ivermectin. These lawsuits have called into question the judiciary’s role in medical…
Article supports FDA review of lab-developed tests
This change drew "wide-ranging expressions of concern" about the future safety of LDTs, according to authors Dr. Eli Adashi of Brown University in Providence, RI, and I. Glenn Cohen of…
A Complex Patent & Pricing Picture: Regulating Psychedelics More of a Journey Than a Trip
Pharma and legal experts weigh in on the rush to secure intellectual property around psychedelic medicines, the value imperative that should govern pricing strategies, and the likely long-haul battle for…
It’s Time for American Feminists to Learn From Latin America’s Abortion-Rights Movement
“You guys left the streets,” Mexican feminist Verónica Cruz told me last September. We were speaking eight days after a law took effect in Texas that…
So, just how much are those CRISPR patents actually worth?
There was a single question conspicuously absent in all the discussion over last week’s CRISPR patent ruling (a single number, really): How much are the patents actually worth?
Video now available! Reporting on the Psychedelic Legal Renaissance
Join the conversation and submit questions on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #POPLAR. View the fully captioned event video. Event Description The psychedelic renaissance is characterized by growing interest in researching, commercializing,…
SARS-CoV-2 Laboratory-Developed Tests: Integrity Restored
On November 15, 2021, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rescinded a Trump-era policy that had directed the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discontinue the premarket reviews…
Mitigating Racial Bias in Machine Learning
When applied in the health sector, AI-based applications raise not only ethical but legal and safety concerns, where algorithms trained on data from majority populations can generate less accurate or…
Introduction: Health Law and Anti-Racism: Reckoning and Response
Law and racism are intertwined, with legal tools bearing the potential to serve as instruments of oppression or equity. This Special Issue explores this dual nature of health law, with…
Reflections on Paul Farmer’s legacy: a clarion call for transformative human rights praxis in global health
Paul Farmer’s far-too-early passing on February 21, 2022 is an incalculable loss to those of us who knew and loved him, to students and patients around the globe, to the…
How do we encourage innovation on “long COVID”?
Since the pandemic began, numerous recovered COVID-19 patients have reported having “long COVID”: COVID-19 symptoms persisting well beyond the underlying viral infection period. Whether such a condition is…
Crispr Patent Ruling Picks Winners in Dispute Over Gene-Editing Technology
In the latest twist in a long-running legal dispute over a popular gene-editing tool, U.S. patent authorities ruled that the Broad Institute deserves the credit for inventing a way…
Travel restrictions and variants of concern: global health laws need to reflect evidence
As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread in the early days of the pandemic, governments neglected World Health Organization (WHO) guidance and imposed travel restrictions. These public health measures employed varied…
How can the government successfully engage the private sector in health for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines?
Alicia Ely Yamin teaches courses related to global health and human rights at Harvard Law School and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. She is also Senior Advisor on…
CRISPR’s Nobel Prize winners defeated in key patent claim for genome editor
According to a ruling by an appeal board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a different group, led by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, made…
Complex CRISPR Patent Decision Benefits Broad Institute, Editas
According to Jacob Sherkow, professor of law at the Innovation Center for Law and Technology at New York Law School, this represents a possible loss of $100 million to $10 billion in…
After falling behind gene-editing rivals, Editas just got a much-needed win in the courtroom. Here’s how it could shake up the CRISPR landscape.
After falling behind gene-editing rivals, Editas just got a much-needed win in the courtroom. Here's how it could shake up the CRISPR landscape.
Episode 22: The Decriminalization of Abortion in Colombia
Abortion is no longer a crime in Colombia. Alicia Yamin, who heads up Harvard’s Global Health and Rights Project, discusses the hemispheric impact of the recent Colombian Constitutional…
UC Berkeley loses CRISPR gene editing patent case
It’s a major blow for UC, representing a potential loss of $100 million to $10 billion in U.S. licensing revenues, according to Jacob Sherkow, a professor at the University…
UC Berkeley loses CRISPR patent case, invalidating patent rights it granted gene-editing companies developing human therapies
Ending the latest chapter in a years-long legal battle over who invented CRISPR, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled on Monday that the revolutionary genome editing technology belongs…
Broad prevails in crucial ruling over CRISPR licensing
Ending the latest chapter in a years-long legal battle over who invented CRISPR, the US Patent and Trademark Office ruled on Monday that the revolutionary genome editing technology belongs to…
The ‘Green Wave’ fighting to legalise abortion across Latin America
Colombia has decriminalised abortion in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy after a 5-4 majority ruling by the nation’s constitutional court. It’s the latest victory of the '…
Video now available! Psychedelics and Trauma
View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #POPLAR. Watch the fully captioned event video. Event Description Psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, MDMA, and ketamine are being used increasingly in research…
Legal and Medical Experts Discuss Alternative Approaches for Aiding Families Struggling With Substance Abuse
Legal and medical experts discussed how to support families struggling with substance abuse in a Tuesday virtual panel jointly hosted by Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Law, Brain, and…
Video now available! Everything That Doctors Want to Know About Reproductive Rights Litigation, But Are Too Afraid to Ask
Current and past abortion legislation and court rulings have profound effects on health care providers’ ability to care for their patients. However, media coverage of abortion in the U…
How to train a clinical AI to predict bad health outcomes
The ripple effects of piecemeal privacy laws A growing patchwork of state-level privacy laws could pose a challenge for upstart health tech companies. After California led the way with its…
Video now available! Families, Substance Use Disorder, and the Courts: Is Compassion Consistent with Accountability?
View the conversation on Twitter @PetrieFlom using #LawAndNeuro. Check out the event coverage: Paul E. Alexis and Krishi Kishore, "Legal and Medical Experts Discuss Alternative Approaches for Aiding Families Struggling…