In his new book The Conscience of Care, Dov Fox explores the concept of medical conscience through controversies around health care services like IVF, IUDs, opioids, gender affirming care, psychedelics, organ transplants, and advance directives. “We’re used to hearing about conscientious refusers: physicians and pharmacists whose moral convictions lead them to deny a range of treatments…
In this webinar, speakers will describe the international legal, regulatory, and ethical frameworks governing applications of AI in health care. They will compare approaches, discussing the opportunities and challenges, as well as the need for transparency, accountability, and guiding ethical principles in developing AI systems in health care. Panelists This event is organized by the…
New directions for disability advocacy and organizing in the Americas? On August 7, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights broke new ground in international human rights law by recognizing the “right to care” as an autonomous and enforceable right. Its Advisory Opinion recognizes care as an essential and universal human need on which functioning societies and humanity itself…
Join our one-hour webinar to discuss possible changes on the horizon in federal drug policy. In late 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order to expedite the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. If finalized, the reclassification would mark a significant policy shift with concrete legal, economic,…
The Health Law Policy, Bioethics, and Biotechnology Workshop provides a forum for discussion of new scholarship in these fields from the world’s leading experts. The workshop is led by Professor I. Glenn Cohen, and presenters come from a wide range of disciplines and departments. Harvard graduate students may register to take the workshop for course…
This virtual event will discuss a forthcoming international treaty on the rights of older persons and how it could build on lessons from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On April 3, 2025, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council adopted a resolution jumpstarting the multilateral process for negotiating a new international treaty on the rights…
This hybrid lunchtime event is organized by the Harvard Center for International Development The global health system is broken — and it was never truly built for equity. As power shifts and old institutions lose influence, we’re at a rare crossroads: do we patch up a flawed system, or imagine something better? This panel brings…
Join us for a lunchtime debate hosted by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. This discussion will explore the surge of interest in increasing access to psychedelics. What are the law and policy choices that would maximize benefits and minimize risk of harm? Lunch will be served; event…
Criminal Resentencing Post-Monschke, Mattis, and Other State Case Law In Roper v. Simmons (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court barred the death penalty for crimes committed under 18, grounding its reasoning in developmental science. Yet Jones v. Mississippi (2021) upheld discretionary life without parole, leaving states to decide how science should inform sentencing. In the wake of Jones, courts across the…
Join the Petrie-Flom Center and a panel of experts for an in-person lunchtime discussion of the legal, scientific, medical, and ethical issues related to aging political and judicial leaders. Is the advanced age of many leaders cause for concern? Should we have maximum age limits for lawmakers and judges? What can neuroscience research tell us about…
