Health Law Conference 2023

Save the Date for the 2023 Annual Health Law Conference
Friday, April 14, 2023

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 present on papers to be published in an upcoming issue of the Law Review.

Conference Schedule
8:30 AM 220 Dockser Hall

Doors Open - Light Breakfast
9:00-9:15 AM Welcome –

James Hackney
Dean, Northeastern University School of Law


Wendy 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

9:15-10:30 AM Keynote Speaker –

Dr. Peter Hotez
Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine; Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine


10:30 AM -12:00 PM Paper Presentations –

Introduction by Brook Baker
Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law; Honorary Research Fellow, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa

Oliver J. Kim
Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
The Role of State Boards of Medicine in the Dissemination of Medical Misinformation

Wesley Hartman, Sabrina Adler and Alexis Etow
ChangeLab Solutions
Public Health Law: A Framework for Addressing Misinformation and Health Equity

Leo Beletsky, Katie McCreedy, Sunyou Kang, Sean McCormick and
Julia Winett
The Action Lab at the Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Misinformation and the Legal and Ethical Debate on Involuntary Commitment for Substance Use Disorder

Rebecca S. Feinberg
Teaching Associate Professor, De Paul University
Crisis Pregnancy Centers — Falsehoods and the Religious Practice of Medicine

12:00- 1:00 PM Lunch (lounge area outside of 220 Dockser Hall)
1:00-2:15 PM Concurrent Sessions I

Professional Regulations — 42 Dockser Hall

Claudia Haupt
Associate Professor of Law and Political Science, Northeastern University School of Law; Affiliate Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School

Carl Coleman (virtual)
Professor of Law; Academic Director, Division of Online Learning, Seton Hall Law

Timothy Caulfield (virtual)
Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy; Professor, Faculty of Law and School of Public Health; and Research Director, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta

Sonja Rasnussen
Professor of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Misinformation Regarding Abortion — 44 Dockser Hall

Wendy Parmet (moderator)
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

Aziza Ahmed
Professor of Law; R. Gordon Butler Scholar in International Law; Co-Director, Boston University Law Program in Reproductive Justice, Boston University School of Law

Caroline Corbin (virtual)
Professor of Law, University of Miami

Patty Skuster
Beck Chair in Law, Temple Law School; Fellow, Center for Public Health Law Research

Torts — 46 Dockser Hall

Richard Daynard (moderator)
University Distinguished Professor of Law; President, Public Health Advocacy Institute, Northeastern University School of Law

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss
Professor of Law and the James Edgar Hervey ’50 Chair of Litigation, UC College of the Law (formerly known as UC Hastings)

Wes Henricksen
Associate Professor of Law, Barry University School of Law

2:15-2:30 PM Break
2:30-3:45 PM Concurrent Sessions II

First Amendment and Social Media — 42 Dockser Hall

Jonathan Kahn (moderator)
Professor of Law and Biology, Northeastern University School of Law

Tomer Kenneth
JSD Candidate, New York University; Fellow, Information Law Institute

Ana Rutschman
Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

Scott Wilkens
Senior Counsel, Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University

Trans Health and Misinformation — 44 Dockser Hall

Andrew Cohen (moderator)
Director and Lead Attorney, Access to Care and Coverage Team, Health Law Advocates

Dallas Duncar
Chief Executive Officer, Transhealth; Faculty Member, University of Virginia School of Nursing, Columbia University and MHG Institute for Health Professions

Heather Walter-McCabe
Associate Professor of Law and Social Work; Faculty Director, Master of Studies in Law Program, Wayne State University

Drugs and Drug Policy Misinformation — 46 Dockser Hall

Leo Beletsky (moderator)
Professor of Law and Health Sciences; Faculty Director, The Action Lab at the Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

Nab Dasgupta
Senior Scientist; Injury Prevention Research Center Innovation Fellow, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University North Carolina Chapel Hill

Mason Marks (virtual)
Senior Fellow and Project Lead, Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School

Anne Rancourt (virtual)
Chief, Communications Branch, Office of Science Policy and Communications, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health

Rachel Winograd
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Missouri-St. Louis

 

Hosted in collaboration with:
Northeastern University Law Review

Apr 14, 2023

8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Register Online