Event Description Developed in the 1970s and commercialized shortly thereafter, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has since become a mainstay diagnostic tool in practices ranging from oncology and orthopedics to neurology and cardiology. Traditional, fixed MRI machines are expensive and immobile. To limit costs and improve access for patients, companies began offering MRIs at stand-alone centers….
Event Description On December 1, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case involving a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court’s ruling in this case has the potential to overturn the nearly fifty-year precedent of Roe v. Wade. Just days…
Event Description Psychedelic substances like psilocybin, MDMA, and ketamine are increasingly used in research and clinical medicine. By their very nature, they put patients in a vulnerable position. The altered state of consciousness produced by psychedelics can promote insight and healing. However, unscrupulous practitioners can also exploit patients when they are under the influence of…
Event Description The future of abortion access in America is not secure, as recent developments have shown. In September, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to enjoin Texas’ SB8, allowing a sweeping abortion ban to go into effect. Later this fall, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a…
Event Description In September 2021, Cambridge University Press published Consumer Genetic Technologies: Ethical and Legal Considerations. This volume, edited by I. Glenn Cohen, Nita A. Farahany, Henry T. Greely, and Carmel Shachar, stems from the Petrie-Flom Center’s 2019 annual conference, which brought together leading experts to explore what ethical and regulatory safeguards should be implemented…
Event Description In January 2020, reports began to circulate internationally of a pneumonia-like illness spreading in China. Little was known about the novel pathogen, SARS-CoV-2, at that time. As scientists and public health experts worked to understand the virus, reporters worked to communicate to the public the state of the knowledge — an ever-shifting ground….
Event Description When Chris Hansen, an ACLU lawyer, learned that the U.S. government was issuing patents for human genes to biotech companies, his first thought was: How can a corporation own what makes us who we are? Then he discovered that women were being charged exorbitant fees to test for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer—all…
Event Description On October 13th we hosted a discussion of the updated edition of The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers with author and William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Daniel Schacter. This updated edition revisits Professor Schacter’s groundbreaking research with the twenty-first century’s cultural trends and scientific discoveries. This…
Event Description The COVID-19 pandemic battered the Latin American region, and has exacted a disproportionate toll on the lives of persons with disabilities throughout Latin America, exacerbating inequalities and entrenching already pervasive patterns of marginalization. These effects were especially evident for institutionalized persons with disabilities throughout the region – who faced heightened risk of COVID-19…
Event Description On June 30, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School announced a new research initiative, the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR). To mark POPLAR’s launch, the Petrie-Flom Center has invited experts from all aspects of the emerging psychedelics industry — including clinicians, researchers, patient…
