PORTAL: Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law
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    • #policyethx 2020-2021
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  • Join Us
    • PORTAL Fellowships
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  • Contact
    • Inquiries
    • E-mail List
  • About Us
    • What is PORTAL?
    • Core Faculty
    • Research Team
    • Affiliated Faculty & Researchers
    • Expert Roundtable
  • Our Work
    • Publications
    • Policy Action
    • Literature Scan
    • In the Press
    • Media Center
    • Teaching
    • CeBIL
    • Biomarkers >
      • About The Project
      • The PBRC Team
      • Our Collaborators
      • AERO Graph
      • Workshops
      • Biomarkers2018
    • FDA REMS
  • Blog
  • Events
    • #policyethx 2020-2021
    • Events Archive >
      • #policyethx 2019-2020
      • #policyethx 2018-2019
      • #policyethx 2017-2018
      • #policyethx 2016-2017
      • Biosimilar Insulin
      • Older Events
  • Join Us
    • PORTAL Fellowships
    • Program Coordinator
  • Contact
    • Inquiries
    • E-mail List
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Health Policy & Bioethics Consortia 2020-2021

PORTAL runs a monthly seminar series that convenes two experts from different fields or vantage points to discuss how various aspects of therapeutic development and use are affected by ethical norms, laws, and regulations. These are organized in conjunction with the HMS Center for Bioethics  supported by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

You may join the discussion on Twitter before, during, or after each event by following 
@PORTAL_Research and using the hashtag #policyethx.
Health Care for Incarcerated Populations
​​
April 9, 2021 | 12:30 - 2:00 PM ET
Webinar via Zoom (Register HERE)
EXPERTS:
MODERATOR:
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Robert Greifinger, MD

Professor (Adjunct) of Health and Criminal Justice and Distinguished Research Fellow
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Chair, Department of Social Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Shannon Bell, MD

Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Boston University School of Medicine

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David Fathi, JD

Director, National Prison Project
​American Civil Liberties Union

PAST EVENTS


The ACA in the 2020s: Where Does U.S. National Health Coverage Go from Here?

Since its passage over a decade ago, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded health care coverage for Americans but also faced constant litigation and uncertainty about its future, particularly in the last four years. With a new political administration now in place, the panelists will discuss the current state of ACA litigation and federal and state efforts that could improve the ACA and health care coverage in the U.S.
​​
March 12, 2021 | Webinar via Zoom
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EXPERTS:

Erin C. Fuse Brown, JD, MPH


Cathy C. Henson Professor of Law
Director, Center for Law, Health & Society
Georgia State University College of Law


​Jonathan Oberlander, PhD, MPhil, MA

Professor, Health Policy and Management
Chair, Department of Social Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

MODERATOR:

Michael S. Sinha, MD, JD, MPH

​Research Fellow, Harvard-MIT Center for Regulatory Science, Harvard Medical School
Adjunct Faculty, Northeastern University School of Law​

Medical Stereotypes: Confronting Racism and Disparities in US Health Care

February 12, 2021 | Webinar via Zoom

​Minority racial and ethnic groups in the US have long experienced disparities in access to health care and worse health outcomes, undermining broader social, political, and economic equality. One component of these disparities are various stereotypes that affect how minority patients are perceived and treated. This session will explore how medical discourse and the health system it supports can be altered to address these harms, and how legal changes can improve outcomes in the future.
EXPERTS:

​
Evelynn Hammonds, PhD
​Chair, Department of the History of Science
Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science
Professor of African American Studies
Harvard University

Craig Konnoth, JD, MPhil
​Associate Professor of Law
Director of Health Law Certificate
University of Colorado

MODERATOR:

Michelle Morse, MD, MPH
​Hospitalist, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

Access to Investigational Drugs and Stem Cell Treatments via Right to Try Laws: Legal and Ethical Considerations

December 11, 2020 | Webinar via Zoom

Access to investigational drugs has been a controversial topic during the COVID19 pandemic: what is the level of evidence required? How do we evaluate individual access requests, particularly from public figures such as outgoing Presidents?  How does providing access change the ability to acquire fundamental information about these products? In May 2018, the Right to Try Act was signed into law, creating a new pathway for patients with life-threatening conditions to access investigational products prior to FDA approval. Prior to the federal law, more than half of states had passed their own versions of right to try. Two expert panelists will consider the scientific, legal, and ethical issues relating to access to investigational treatments and how Right to Try laws change the landscape for the future.
EXPERTS:

George Q. Daley, MD, PhD

​Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
​Harvard Medical School

Alison Bateman-House, MPH, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health
NYU Grossman School of Medicine

MODERATOR:

Insoo Hyun, PhD
​Professor, Department for Bioethics, Case Western University School of Medicine
Faculty Member, Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School

The NFL, Youth Sport, and Concussions

November 13, 2020 | Webinar via Zoom

Potential links between contact sports and chronic traumatic encephalopathy or other long-lasting neurological effects have received renewed public interest with high-profile lawsuits and debate about the dangers of sport. There are challenges with the evidence for drawing firm conclusions, making these debates especially contentious. The concerns about sport and head injury, especially for young players, are not new. Despite recognition of the dangers inherent in contact sports, there is a history of avoiding addressing the problem head-on. American culture surrounding football, lauded for its rough style of play, also influences our understandings of risk, injury, and changes to the sport. 
EXPERTS:

​Kathleen Bachynski, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor
Muhlenberg College

Grant Iverson, PhD
Professor, Dept of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Harvard Medical School

Director, Sports Concussion Program
MassGeneral Hospital for Children

MODERATOR:


Cynthia Stein, MD, MPH
Attending Physician, Sports Medicine Division
Dept of Orthopedic Surgery

Director, Medical Sports Medicine Fellowship Program

Boston Children's Hospital
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Drug Shortages: Managing Prioritization & Improving the Supply Chain 

October 9, 2020 | Webinar via Zoom

Drug shortages, when the supply of a drug is not adequate to meet current or near-term future demand, have become increasingly common in the U.S. These shortages occur for a variety of reasons, including disruptions to supply chains, manufacturing stoppages, and economic incentives. Drug shortages have real effects on patients and result in medication errors, delayed life-saving treatment, and worse patient outcomes. We will examine what policies could change the current situation and ensure the consistent supply of drugs. Shortages also raise important questions to consider about what clinicians should do during a shortage and how to make decisions about which patients to prioritize for treatment with a scarce resource.
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EXPERTS:

​Erin Fox, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP

Senior Director,
Drug Information and Support Services,
​University of Utah

Yoram Unguru, MD, MS, MA
Assistant Professor of Medicine
​Johns Hopkins University

MODERATOR:


Ameet Sarpatwari, PhD, JD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Assistant Director, PORTAL​

COVID-19, Public Health Ethics and Policy for Pandemics

September 11, 2020 | Webinar via Zoom

Since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began, scientific recommendations about the best way to reduce its impact have met wide-ranging resistance in the U.S. With two experts in infectious disease epidemiology and ethics, we will review how scientific evidence is collected in a rapidly changing public health environment, and how to translate that evidence into actionable recommendations. We will also discuss the sources of controversy that have arisen as the pandemic has evolved, including balancing individual and public health interests and how to manage different types of uncertainty.
EXPERTS:

Marc Lipsitch, DPhil
Professor of Epidemiology
Director, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics
Department of Epidemiology
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

​
Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH
Director, Center for Bioethics and Humanities
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

​
MODERATOR:

Leah Rand, PhD, MA
Research Fellow, PORTAL
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Program On Regulation, Therapeutics And Law (PORTAL)
Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics
1620 Tremont Street, Suite 3030
Boston, MA 02120
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