Global Health and Rights Project Affiliated Researcher Sociology Department, University of Georgia2024 Natalia Pires de Vasconcelos is a sociologist and lawyer from São Paulo, Brazil. Her work aims to understand how legal institutions can impact people’s health and well-being, currently focusing on how exposure to the criminal legal system contributes to medical avoidance behavior and mortality. Natalia holds a Ph.D. in Law…
Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience (PULSE) Affiliated Researcher Advisor, University of Washington; Of Counsel, Salzhauer & Shortt John Rapp is a New York and Washington State lawyer, mediator, teacher, ethicist and activist who educates, advises, connects and protects entheogenic practitioners. He taught in the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard…
Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience (PULSE) Affiliated Researcher Inaugural Distinguished Scholar in the Public Humanities, Case Western Reserve University Deepak Sarma is the Inaugural Distinguished Scholar in the Public Humanities, Case Western Reserve University. After earning a BA in religion from Reed College, Sarma attended the Divinity School at the University of Chicago where they…
Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience (PULSE) Affiliated Researcher Researcher, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal Eduardo Schenberg is a neuroscientist studying psychedelics from an interdisciplinary perspective. He has published papers on neuroimaging, clinical, epistemological and also ethical issues in psychedelic research, especially related to indigenous rights. He has lectured in different events and institutions…
Student Fellow2024-2025 Jessica Samuels is a third-year dual degree law and public health student (J.D./MPH 2025). Her research interests include genetics, environmental health sciences, novel biotechnologies, and the FDA regulatory process. She has previously published work on the accuracy of ultrasound in predicting malignant ovarian masses. At HLS, Jessica is co-president of the Harvard Health Law…
Student Fellow2024-2025 Rupa Palanki is a law student (J.D. 2026), whose research interests include innovative medical technologies and chronic disease policy. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied Economics and interned for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the Louisiana Department of Health. Prior to law school, she…
Student Fellow2024-2025 Rebekah Ninan’s (J.D. 2025) research interests are focused on the intersection of health and the law. She is interested in mass torts, drug product liability, pharmaceutical antitrust, and the administrative law that affects health-related regulations promulgated by agencies.
Student Fellow2024-2025 Abeer Malik’s (LL.M. 2025) research interests include medical law, law and technology, and corporate law. Her research project will focus on navigating AI-Driven drug discovery under United States and European Union patent regimes.
Student Fellow2024-2025 Zain Khalid is Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and a master’s candidate at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics (M.B.E 2025). He is board certified in adult and forensic psychiatry and practices as a psychiatric intensivist. His research interests include structural determination and competence in mental healthcare, psychiatric…
Student Fellow2024-2025 Spencer Andrews (J.D. 2026) hails from small-town Indiana and worked for three years as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) before attending law school. His background in neuroscience inspired him to dig deeper into the societal impacts of addiction and mental illness in the U.S.
