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 declared health misinformation to be a significant public health challenge.

Misinformation on issues such as vaccinations, masking, abortion, COVID-19, gender affirming care, monkeypox and opioids have spread even quicker with the use of social media and web-based news channels. Such misinformation can exacerbate health inequities and pose problems for health privacy. Law and policy will be instrumental in determining the response to ongoing health misinformation and will most certainly influence how healthcare and public health systems develop strategies promoting science. Efforts to stem the spread of misinformation implicate many areas of law, including technology and privacy law, the First Amendment, tort law, FTC law and professional licensing.

>>Download Annual Health Law Conference Flyer

Keynote Bio

Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. He is dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also the co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. Among his many honors and awards, he was named by FORTUNE magazine as one of the 34 most influential people in healthcare in 2017. In 2022, Dr. Hotez and his colleague Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to develop and distribute a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine to people of the world without patent limitation.

Friday, April 14, 2023

Hosted in collaboration with the Northeastern University Law Review (NULR), authors will presented  on papers to be published in an upcoming issue of the Law Review.

Hosted in collaboration with:
Northeastern University Law Review

Climate Change:
The Challenges for Health, Equity and the Law

April 14-15, 2022

Climate change and global warming are already having a significant impact on public health and health care systems across the globe. Lack of infrastructure and preparedness result in systems that are ill-equipped to handle the challenges of increases in climate change-related deaths, acute and chronic illnesses, and resource strain. These issues disproportionately impact tribal communities and populations already experiencing significant disparities in care and access. Law and policy will be instrumental in determining the response to ongoing climate change issues, and will most certainly influence how healthcare and public health systems develop strategies for resilience and change.

Hosted in collaboration with Northeastern University Law Review (NULR), authors will present on papers to be published in an upcoming issue of the Law Review.
>> Download the program

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Cheryl Holder, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Community Initiatives at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University

Cheryl L. Holder, M.D., has dedicated her career to caring for underserved populations and promoting diversity in the health professions through pipeline programs. Holder is a founding faculty member of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine (HWCOM).

As the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Community Initiatives, Holder integrates diversity, inclusivity, and social justice in all HWCOM programs and operations. She also teaches medical, nursing, social work, and physician assistant students about working in underserved communities through the Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP program.

Holder began her career in 1987 as a National Health Service Corp Scholar working with medically underserved communities in South Florida. From 1990 to 2009, she served as medical director for Jackson Health System’s North Dade Health Center, where she developed an HIV care and treatment program and directed the first school-based health center in Miami-Dade County.

Hosted in collaboration with:
Northeastern Law's Health Law Society
Northeastern University Law Review

Health and the Body Politic: Undermining Democracy, Undermining Health

Friday, April 16, 2021 | 1:30 - 5:00 PM 

Health law scholars have been energetically engaged in identifying and responding to the myriad challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Equity, access, mental health, availability of resources, vaccine development and rationing, and related issues of public health and private rights have come to the fore as matters of critical concern. In addition, and related to these issues, is the critical question of democratic governance. Inextricably interrelated to the current public health crisis, the crisis of governance presents a host of issues to be examined. This dynamic virtual conference featured leading academics, policy-makers and advocates.

2021 Health Law Conference Paper Workshop Program
Friday, April 16, 2021

1:30 PM
Welcome
Wendy E. Parmet
Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law; Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Post-Truth Won’t Set us Free: Health Law, Patient Autonomy and the Rise of the Infodemic

Authors
Wendy E. Parmet
Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law; Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Jeremy Paul
Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of LawCommentator

Leslie Francis
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Law, University of Utah

Friday, April 17, 2020
Due to concerns related to COVID-19, the paper workshop component of our 2020 conference was hosted virtually.

Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations

Thursday, April 11 and Friday, April 12, 2019
Northeastern University 

Health care is rapidly changing. Over the last decade, striking innovations, including artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile technology, gene therapies, pharmaceuticals, big data analytics, tele- and virtual health care delivery, have been developed as new entities and modes of delivery, from accountable care organizations (ACOs) to retail minute-clinics, have entered the market. More dramatic innovations and market disruptions are likely in the years to come. These new technologies and market disruptions offer immense promise to advance health care quality and efficiency, as well as improve provider and patient engagement. Success will depend, however, on careful consideration of potential perils and well-planned interventions to ensure new methods ultimately further, rather than diminish, the health of patients, especially those who are the most vulnerable.

Throughout the two-day conference, interdisciplinary experts, policymakers, academics, and providers attempted to answer myriad questions, including:

What are the legal, policy, and ethical considerations regarding new health technologies? New forms of organization?
What safety and privacy issues will arise from new health technologies? How will this change over time?
What protections can we put into place to protect privacy as the market changes and technologies evolve?
Who is ultimately accountable for the development, use, and oversight of emerging health technologies and innovations?
What legal mechanisms exist for promoting access to and serving underserved populations?
Should new innovations focus on clinical health care, population health, public health, or some combination?
Whom do these new technologies and entities ultimately serve (providers, patients, private companies) and how does that lens impact how we incorporate them into the health care system?

Keynote Speaker
John D. Halamka, M.D.
Chief Information Officer, Beth Israel Deaconess System

John D. Halamka, M.D., is the chief information officer (CIO) at Beth Israel Deaconess System, chairman of the New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN), and a practicing emergency physician. He is also the International Healthcare Innovation professor at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Halamka completed his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, where he received a degree in medical microbiology and a degree in public policy with a focus on technology issues. He entered medical school at the University of California, San Francisco and simultaneously pursued graduate work in bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley focusing on technology issues in medicine. He completed his residency at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center in the Department of Emergency Medicine.

In his role at BIDMC, Dr. Halamka is responsible for all clinical, financial, administrative, and academic information technology, serving 3,000 doctors, 12,000 employees, and 1,000,000 patients. As chairman of NEHEN, Dr. Halamka oversees clinical and administrative data exchange among the payers, providers, and patients in Massachusetts. As a Harvard professor, he has served the George W. Bush administration, the Obama administration, and national governments throughout the world planning their healthcare IT strategy.

Dr. Halamka has authored five books on technology-related issues, hundreds of articles and thousands of posts on the popular Geekdoctor blog.

He runs Unity Farm in Sherborn, MA and serves as caretaker for 150 animals, 30 acres of agricultural production and a cidery/winery.

Afternoon Featured Speaker    

Rick Berke
Executive Editor, STAT

Diseases of Despair: The Role of Policy and Law

Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13, 2018
Northeastern University 

Anne Case and Angus Deaton shocked the world with their 2015 report that noted an increase in all-cause mortality among middle-aged white non-Hispanic men and women in the United States. This pattern is not occurring in other groups within the United States and Europe. Their report, and others since then, have linked this trend to so-called deaths of despair (death from suicide, chronic substance use and overdoses) and their linkage to other determinants of health (education, labor markets, marital patterns). A 2017 update to the report makes it clear that this trend is no longer limited to any particular geographic region within the United States.

This year’s conference and associated scholarship brought together experts, policymakers and academics to discuss the causes behind such trends, and to explore potential political, policy and legal responses for addressing broader determinants that affect the physical and mental health of Americans dying from these diseases of despair. Deeper examination into similar patterns among diverse populations, as well as analysis of continuing racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities, were central to the discourse.

This Week in Health Law (TWIHL) Broadcasts Live From #DiseasesofDespair 

TWIHL, our 2018 conference podcast partner, recorded special episodes live from Diseases of Despair.  Along with TWIHL host Nicolas Terry, NUSL Professor Leo Beletsky acted as co-host and spoke with several of our conference speakers. Check out the related Bill of Health blog post for some background information on the discussions and to see a list of recommended reading.

Episodes 136 & 137: Listen here and here!

8:45 - 9:00 AM

Welcome and Introduction
Jeremy Paul, Dean and Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Wendy E. Parmet, Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law; Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University

9:00 - 10:15 AM

Featured Speaker:

Dr. Michael Fraser 
Executive Director, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)

Michael Fraser is executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASHTO), a national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the US territories and the District of Columbia, as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. Prior to joining ASTHO, he served as the executive vice president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He served as CEO of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) from 2007 to 2013.

Prior to joining AMCHP, Fraser was the deputy executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials from 2002 to 2007, and served in several capacities at the US Department of Health and Human Services, including positions at the Health Resources and Services Administration and the CDC. He received his doctorate and master’s degrees in sociology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master's in management, strategy and leadership from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University. He received his BA in sociology from Oberlin College in 1991. He is currently active in the American Society of Association Executives, serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, and is an ex-officio member of the Public Health Accreditation Board.

10:15 - 11:30 AM
Morning Plenary
Diseases of Despair: Defining the Problem

Moderator:
Wendy E. Parmet, Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

 Panelists:
Scott Burris, Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law, Temple University
Todd Hembree, Attorney General, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Dr. William Martin, Dean and Professor Administration, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University
Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair of Public Health Promotion and Associate Professor of Sociology, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University 

11:30 - 11:45 AM
Break

11:45 - 1:00 PM

Concurrent Panels I

Panel A: Opioids/ Substance Use Disorder

Moderator:
Leo Beletsky, Associate Professor of Law and Health Sciences, Northeastern University

 Panelists:
Scott Hadland, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
Ayana Jordan, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine
Nicolas P. Terry, Hall Render Professor of Law and Executive Director, William S. and Christine S. Hall Center for Law and Health, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Monique Tula, Executive Director, Harm Reduction Coalition

***********************

Panel B: Violence
Moderator:
Dr. Gregory Curfman, Research and Publication Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

Panelists:
Chaplain Clementina Chery, Founder, President, CEO, Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
Carlos Cuevas, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Northeastern University
Bindu Kalesan, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Director, Center for Clinical Translational Epidemiology and Comparative Effectiveness Research Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
Emily Rothman, Associate Professor, Boston University School of Public Health

***********************

Panel C: Suicide
Moderator:
Matthew Miller, Professor of Health Sciences and Epidemiology, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University

Panelists:
Joseph Simonetti, School of Medicine, University of Colorado
Jason Smith, Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Health Sciences, California State University, East Bay
Peter Wyman, Professor of Psychiatry and Director, School and Community-Based Prevention Laboratory, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

1:00 - 2:30PM

Lunch

Luncheon Speaker:
Michael Botticelli
Executive Director, The Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine, Boston Medical Center; former Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under the Obama Administration

Michael Botticelli is the executive director of the Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine at Boston Medical Center and a Distinguished Policy Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Previously, Botticelli was director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for the Obama administration from 2014 through January 2017. He joined the ONDCP as deputy director in 2012. Mr. Botticelli has more than two decades of experience supporting Americans affected by substance use disorders. Prior to joining ONDCP, he served as director of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where he successfully expanded innovative and nationally recognized prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery services for the commonwealth. He also forged strong partnerships with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies; state and local health and human service agencies; and stakeholder groups to guide and implement evidence-based programs.

Mr. Botticelli holds a BA from Siena College and a MEd from St. Lawrence University. He is also in long-term recovery from a substance use disorder.

2:30 - 3:45 PM

Afternooon Plenary
Disparate Discourses: The Persistence of Racial and Gender Disparities in Diseases of Despair

Moderator:
Jennifer Lea Huer, Managing Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

Panelists:
Brietta Clark, Associate Dean for Faculty, Professor of Law, and J. Rex Dibble Fellow, Loyola Law School
Renée Landers, Professor of Law and Director, Health Law Concentration, Suffolk University Law School
Lindsey Cei Vuolo, Associate Director, Health Law and Policy, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse

3:45 - 5:00 PM
Concurrent Panels

Panel A: State and Local Innovations

Moderator:
Jennifer Lea Huer, Managing Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

Panelists:
Julia Costich, Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Kentucky College of Public Health
Katie Garfield, Staff Attorney, Health Law and Policy Clinic, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School
Jessica Mantel, Associate Professor, Co-Director, Health Law and Policy Institute, University of Houston Law Center
David Rochefort, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Political Science, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Northeastern University

******************

Panel B:  Medical-Legal Partnerships

Moderator:
Margo Lindauer, Associate Teaching Professor and Director, Domestic Violence Institute, Northeastern University School of Law

Panelists:
Tamar Ezer, Lecturer in Law, Associate Research Scholar in Law and Schell Visiting Human Rights Scholar, Yale Law School
JoHanna Flacks, Legal Director, MLPB
Elizabeth Tobin Tyler, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Alpert Medical School; Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health

******************

Panel C:  Medicaid Innovation

Moderator:
Jean McGuire, Professor of Practice, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University

 Panelists:
Jane Perkins, Legal Director, National Health Law Program
Matt Salo, Executive Director, National Association of Medicaid Directors
Sidney Watson, Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law

5:00 PM
Closing Reception

Between Complacency and Panic:
Legal, Ethical and Policy Responses to Emerging Infectious Diseases

Friday, April 14, 2017

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) such as Ebola and the Zika virus pose potentially grave threats to human health. They can also incite overreations that lead to the scapegoating of vulnerable populations and counter-productive public health responses, such as those that occurred during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. This one-day conference brought together leading policymakers, practitioners and academics to explore the dangers of such diseases and to discuss the development of effective, evidence-based, legally sound and ethically appropriate policy responses.

Keynote Speaker: 

Dr. Anthony Fauci
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Chief, NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

Anthony Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, where he oversees an extensive research portfolio devoted to preventing, diagnosing and treating infectious and immune-mediated diseases. Dr. Fauci has been a key advisor to five Presidents and their administrations on global AIDS issues, and on initiatives to bolster medical and public health preparedness against emerging infectious disease threats such as pandemic influenza. As an HIV/AIDS researcher he has been involved in the scientific effort since AIDS was recognized in 1981, conducting pivotal studies that underpin the current understanding of the disease and efforts to develop therapies and tools of prevention. Dr. Fauci was one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has helped save millions of lives throughout the developing world.

Luncheon Speaker

Laurie Garrett
Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations

Since 2004, Laurie Garrett has been a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Garrett is the only writer ever to have been awarded all three of the Big "Ps" of journalism: the Peabody, the Polk and the Pulitzer. Her expertise includes global health systems, chronic and infectious diseases, and bioterrorism.

Garrett is the best-selling author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance; Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health; I Heard the Sirens Scream: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 and Anthrax Attacks; and the e-book EBOLA: Story of an Outbreak. Over the years, she has also contributed chapters to numerous books, including: AIDS in the World; Disease in Evolution: Global Changes and Emergence of Infectious Diseases; Controversies in Globalization; Practicing Sustainability; How Did This Happen: Terrorism and the New War; Beyond Humanitarianism: What You Need to Know About Africa and Why It Matters; Health and Development; and most recently To Save Humanity: What Matters Most for a Healthy Future.

Program
Friday, April 14, 2017

Jeremy Paul, Dean and Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Wendy Parmet, Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

8:45 AM
Introduction:
Susan Parish
Dean, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern UniversityKeynote Speaker:
Dr. Anthony Fauci
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Chief, NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation
National Institutes of Health

10:00 AM

Emerging Infectious Diseases: Learning from the Past, Preparing for the Future

Panelists:
Dr. John Auerbach, President and CEO, Trust for America's Health
Mandeep Dhaliwal, Team Leader, HIV, Health and Development, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, United Nations Development Programme
Lawrence Gostin, Professor of Global Health Law, Georgetown Law
Michelle Mello, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, and Professor of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine
Alessandro Vespignani, Sternberg Family Distinguished University Professor and Director, Network Science Institute, Northeastern University

11:45 - 12:00 PM
Break

12:00 PM
Concurrent Panels 1

Panel A: Vaccine Development I (IP & Liability Issues)

Panelists:
Jonathan Darrow, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Matthew Herder, Associate Professor of Medicine and Professor of Law, Schulich School of Law
Suerie Moon, Director of Research at the Global Health Centre and Visiting Lecturer at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

Moderator:
Kara Swanson, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law

*******************

Panel B: Reproductive & Sexual Rights and EIDS

Panelists:
Kelly Blanchard, President, Ibis Reproductive Health
Nazneen Damji, United Nations Women's Gender Equality and HIV/AIDS Policy Advisor
Seema Mohapatra, Associate Professor of Law, Barry University

Moderator:
Aziza Ahmed, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law

*******************

Panel C: Isolation, Quarantine, and the Use of Coercive Public Health Powers

Panelists:
Kaci Hickox, Infection Preventist and Public Health Advocate
Wendy Mariner, Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Boston University School of Public Health, and Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law, and Professor of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
Mark Rothstein, Director, Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law, University of Louisville School of Medicine

Moderator:
Wendy Parmet, Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

1:15 PM
Lunch

Introduction:
Michael Pollastri
Chair, Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, Northeastern University

Luncheon Speaker:
Laurie Garrett
Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations

Concurrent Panels 2

Panel A: Vaccine Development II (Ethical Issues in Trials and Access)

Panelists:
Holly Fernandez Lynch, Executive Director, The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School
Jason L. Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and in the History of Medicine, Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine
Ross D. Silverman, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Indiana University
Holly Taylor, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Moderator:
Brook Baker, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law

Panel B: Protecting Vulnerable Populations

Panelists:
Hannah Adams, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services
Kim Buchanan, Researcher, Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, Central Connecticut State University
Monica Valdes Lupi, Executive Director, Boston Public Health Commission

Moderator:
Margo Lindauer, Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the Domestic Violence Institute, Northeastern University  

Panel C: The Role of Health Delivery Systems

Panelists:
Dr. Neil Fishman, Associate Chief Medical Officer, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Preeti Mehrotra, Infectious Diseases Fellow, Boston Children's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Michelle Mello, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, and Professor of Health Research and Policy Stanford University School of Medicine

Moderator:
Kristin Madison, Professor of Law and Health Sciences, Northeastern University

4:00 PM
Break

4:15 PM
Breakout Sessions

Breakout 1: Migration and EIDS

Panelists:
Dr. Elizabeth Barnett, Professor of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
Alan Kraut, Professor of History, American University
Polly Price, Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Law, Professor of Global Health, Emory University School of Law

Moderator:
Wendy Parmet, Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Health Policy & Law Northeastern University School of Law

*******************

Breakout 2: Re-emerging Diseases: What Can We Learn from the Cholera Epidemic in Haiti?

Panelists:
Brian Concannon, Executive Director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
Mark Gottlieb, Executive Director, Public Health Advocacy Institute, Northeastern University School of Law
Daniele Lantagne, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University School of Engineering

Moderator:
Dick Daynard, University Distinguished Professor of Law and President, Public Health Advocacy Institute, Northeastern University School of Law 

*******************

Breakout 3: Global Health Governance 

Panelists:
Ana Ayala, Director of Global Health Law LL.M. Program, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University School of Law
Lance Gable, Interim Dean, Wayne State University Law School

Moderator:
Leo Beletsky, Associate Professor of Law and Health Sciences, Northeastern University

5:30 PM
Closing Reception

Co-sponsors:
Northeastern University School of Law and its Center for Health Policy and Law
American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

Are individuals responsible for their own health? Or does the health of individuals depend upon the health of their communities? And, can we have healthy communities without restricting individual choice? Conflicts between individual choice and collective action underlie many of the most contested and challenging debates relating to health and health care, from the very existence of Obamacare to government responses to the obesity and tobacco epidemics. This conference will bring together legal and public health scholars and practitioners from across the country to discuss and chart the role of individual choice and public action in response to these — and many more —  public health debates.