How Old is Too Old to Govern?

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.

This is a past event
Recording

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 the aging process and efforts to increase the “health span,” particularly for cognitive functions? 

Francis X. Shen, a pioneer in the interdisciplinary field of law and neuroscience, will lead a discussion of the legal and ethical implications of aging.

Recording

Panelists

  • Moderator: Francis X. Shen, JD, PhD, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota; Member, Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics; Founding Director, Dana Foundation Career Network in Neuroscience & Society; Former Petrie-Flom Senior Fellow, Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience
  • Honorable Nancy Gertner, JD, Senior Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School; Retired Federal Judge; Author; and Managing Director, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior, Mass General Hospital
  • Benjamin C. Silverman, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Faculty member, Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School; Director of Ethics, McLean Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital

Media Coverage

Event Photos

This event is organized by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

Cosponsored by the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital.