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Past Symposia

Artificial Intelleigence in Health Care: Existential Challenges for Law & Ethics

March 14, 2024

Each year, the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute, in collaboration with the College of Law's Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology, explores a critical legal issue at the intersection of health law, intellectual property law and information technology. 

This year’s program is no exception as we dive deeper into the role and impact of large language model artificial intelligence technologies and the radical changes they are making to medical innovation and practices. This topic lends itself to the interdisciplinary nature of our symposium, as we gather a wide range of academics, legal practitioners and health care professionals to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved with this significant issue. 

The Symposium will focus on: 

    • AI Developments and Medical Applications 
    • Data and Algorithmic Access, Privacy, Bias, and Discrimination 
    • Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Vaccine Discovery and Development  
    • Ethics of Health Care, Informed Consent, Telemedicine and Liability Concerns 
    • The Future of Health AI Regulation and the Federal Executive Order

DePaul College of Law is an accredited MCLE provider. This event is eligible for up to 6 hours of general CLE credit, which includes 1 hour of professional responsibility credit.

Unplanned Obsolenscence: Reproductive Health Care Technology's Response to a Changing Legal Landscape

March 1, 2023

Each year, the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute, in collaboration with the College of Law's Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology (CIPLIT®), explores a critical legal issue at the intersection of health law, intellectual property law and information technology.   Fittingly, this year’s symposium explores the seismic shift in the legal regulation of reproductive technologies and health services in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health.   

Our interdisciplinary program brings together academics, legal practitioners and health care professionals to discuss these challenges and opportunities by taking an in-depth look at the wide-ranging legal effects and overall impact these radical changes will have on reproductive health care law going forward.  The day will start with a discussion of the nuts and bolts of regulating contraceptive and abortion care, followed by a look at the legal and ethical responsibilities of reproductive medicine providers, and finally, the future of data privacy and research and development in the realm of reproductive health care. 

Panel 1: Preempting Pregnancy: Federalism, Medication Abortion and Contraceptive Care  

The U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion in Dobbs overturned decades of legal precedent, passing the power to regulate this component of reproductive health care to the states, creating a patchwork of differing laws across the country. In doing so, it generated a multitude of questions, particularly around the rights, responsibilities and liabilities of patients and providers seeking and providing medication, abortion and contraceptive care. Panelists will offer insights on how to make sense of the ongoing challenges and tensions between federal and state regulations, the use of technologies like telehealth and mail order prescriptions, the practical and equitable implications of limiting access to reproductive medicines, and the future of litigation surrounding reproductive care. 

Panel 2: Fidelity in the Fertility Forum: Legal and Ethical Challenges in Fertility Medicine

The practice of fertility medicine is one of the primary fields utilizing modern reproductive health care technology. Advances in treatment options over the past decades, as well as jurisprudential changes, have introduced new complications to the ethical conflicts present at the heart of this area of medicine. This interdisciplinary panel will take a closer look at the real world legal and ethical responsibilities facing providers post-Dobbs and how the practice is evolving with new technological breakthroughs. 

Featured Speaker: Radhika Rao, Professor of Law, UC College of the Law, San Francisco 

The courts’ long history of regulating reproductive health care informs legal, policy and medical efforts to ensure equitable access to this medical care in the future. Professor Rao will discuss the future of reproductive rights following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs through the historic lens of reproductive health care jurisprudence leading up to this moment. Her experiences clerking for Justices Blackmun and Marshall allow her to offer an insider’s perspective on Roe v. Wade’s viability framework and the role it played in structuring our current understanding of how to regulate reproductive technology. Her keynote will draw upon her extensive scholarship in the fields of abortion, assisted reproduction, cloning, stem cell research, genetic privacy, gene patenting and property rights in the human body.  

Panel 3: Keeping the Personal Private: Data Privacy in Reproductive Health Care Technology  

The proliferation of information technology for tracking, supporting and providing reproductive health treatment raises questions of how to balance the need for technology, especially when it facilitates greater access to care, with the need to protect private health information. Panelists will discuss who has access to this information, the ways in which individuals are unknowingly relinquishing their privacy rights and how third parties are using this data.  

Panel 4: Research in the Reproductive Rights Unknown: The Future of Reproductive Research and Development 

This interdisciplinary panel will look at how the Dobbs precedent already has affected how clinical research in reproductive health care is conducted and has influenced the development of new technologies. Panelists will discuss the need for inclusive and representative clinical trials within this new framework and the impact the decision has on future growth in this area. ​

DePaul College of Law is an accredited MCLE provider. This event is eligible for up to 7 CLE credit hours. ​

Antitrust and Access to Care: Lessons from Market Consolidation and a Public Health Crisis
March 10, 2022
 
DePaul Law's Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute and Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology annually co-sponsor a symposium highlighting work at the intersection of health law, information technology, and intellectual property. 

Access issues in health care are beginning to reach crisis point. Over the past decade, corporate interests have dictated structural changes in health care markets and consumers now face more barriers than ever when it comes to obtaining affordable, quality care. In response, the Biden Administration and the newly formed White House Competition Counsel are promoting more vigorous antitrust enforcement—scrutinizing actions taken by hospitals and drug companies in particular. This year’s symposium will explore how consolidation across health care markets has impacted access to care. Prominent legal scholars, antitrust enforcers, and expert practitioners will address a range of questions:

  • How has hospital consolidation affected access to care in rural communities?
  • Will COVID-19 drive further consolidation among insurers, providers, or pharmaceutical companies?
  • Can retrospective review of previously consummated hospital mergers restore competitiveness in hospital markets?
  • What impact will the entry of massive non-health care entities, such as Amazon and Google, have on the digital health services market?
  • Is the race to consolidate between insurers and providers an inevitable consequence of the American approach to health care financing?

DePaul College of Law is an accredited MCLE provider, and this event is eligible for up to 7 CLE credit hours.

Addressing Health Disparities: Is Technology the Answer?
April 29, 2021

There are few spaces where rapid changes in technology impact our lives as profoundly as in the realm of healthcare. While advances in healthcare technologies signal immense progress for medicine and science, they also raise significant questions related to who has access to these innovations, and whether the advances are making us healthier as a whole. 

COVID-19 has laid bare the structural barriers at the root of health disparities in the U.S. This year’s Jaharis Symposium centers on the premise that while technological advances have the potential to revolutionize the delivery of health care, they also raise significant questions about who has access to these innovations and whether they are advancing the interests of the populations with the greatest needs.

DePaul College of Law is an approve​ MCLE provider. This event is worth up to 5.75 general CLE hours.

​Co-sponsored by the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute and the Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology (CIPLIT®).​

 

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Genetic Justice: Data, Privacy, and Crime 
March 12, 2020

Recent discoveries in the field of genetics herald immense innovation for medicine and science. However, they also raise significant questions related to individual privacy, societal uses of the information, and applications in the criminal justice system. For example, how should genetic information be controlled to ensure individual privacy and informed consent for all? What are the individual and societal implications of forensic uses of genetic record matching? How else should genetic information be used within the criminal justice system? Can genomic research ever be truly inclusive and representative of the diversity of our population

This 2020 interdisciplinary symposium addresses issues of distributive and procedural justice in genetics and genomics, as they relate to scientific innovation, intellectual property, human subjects research, and the criminal justice system.

“Democratizing” Medicine in a Data and Tech-​Driven World.
March 14, 2019​

This day-long interdisciplinary sym​posium (CLE credit is available and if you cannot attend in person, there is a livestream option) , co-sponsored by the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute and the Center for Intell​ectual Property Law & Information Technology (CIPLIT®), addresses the significant and pressing questions of law and policy that will inevitably arise from the adoption of technological and data-driven innovation in medicine. Endeavors such as biohacking, artificial intelligence, consumer genetics, and citizen science initiatives offer the promise of collaboration and acces​sibility while raising legitimate legal and ethical concerns about ownership, justice, and the law’s ability to keep up with innovation. 
 
Legal, technological, and medical experts from across the country will explore the scientific, ethical, and legal implications of some contemporary examples of do-it-yourself and do-it-together medicine.​
 

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Technological and Emergency Responses to Pandemic Diseases

February 22, 2018
 
DePaul University’s Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute and the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Information Technology (CIPLIT®) hosted a one-day conference on pandemic diseases. The conference focused on “best practices” in responding to emerging pandemic diseases, including: (1) how public health systems around the globe and in the United States can detect and should respond to threats of pandemic disease; (2) how to develop technologies to diagnose and treat pandemic diseases; (3) how to protect against pandemic disease agents as weapons and what civil liberties may be affected in a pandemic disease outbreak; and (4) what rights people infected with pandemic diseases may have in regard to their privacy and treatment, as well as for any bodily property that may become involved in disease responses. The conference included panels of academics and practitioners addressing the specific issues and featured talks by two distinguished keynote speakers, who have been deeply involved in pandemic disease responses and initiatives: Lawrence Gostin--University Professor and Faculty Director, Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University--and Richard Wilder--Associate General Counsel, Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
 
  • Panel 1: Public Health System: Detection, Treatment & Containment
    • Dr. Julie Morita, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Public Health
    • John D. Blum, John J. Waldron Research Professor of Law, Founding Director Beazley Institute for Health Law & Policy, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
    • Dr. Nirav Shah, Director, Illinois Department of Public Health
  • Panel 2: Intellectual Property & Technology Responses
    • Ana Santos Rutschman, Jaharis Faculty Fellow in Health Law and Intellectual Property, DePaul University College of Law
    • Jordan Paradise, Professor of Law, Beazley Institute for Health Law & Policy, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
    • Adam Conway, Senior Counsel, R&D and Alliance Management, AbbVie, Inc.
  • Luncheon Keynote Speaker:
    • ​​Richard Wilder​, Associate General Counsel in the Global Health Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Panel 4: Privacy, Informed Consent, & Property Rights in Biological Materials
    • Radhika Rao, Professor of Law, University of California Hastings School of Law
    • Liza Vertinsky, Associate Professor of Law, Emory Global Health Institute Faculty Fellow, Emory University School of Law
    • Richard Prebil, Principal, Richard L Prebil, P.C.; Adjunct Professor, Beazley Institute for Health Law & Policy, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
  • Concluding Keynote Speaker:
    • Lawrence Gostin, University Professor, Professor of Medicine, and Director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University, and Professor of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University

Telehealth: Transforming the Healthcare Delivery Landscape

March 9, 2017
 
At the forefront of the health care sector, medical practitioners are using technological advances to remotely deliver healthcare services to patients. This practice, known as telehealth, opens a new avenue that can potentially transform the healthcare delivery landscape. According to academics and commentators, telehealth may soon dramatically transform health care practices. If implemented correctly, modern digital technologies can reduce costs, expand accessibility, and increase quality of healthcare. Telehealth, however, can also introduce significant risks to providers and consumers. The 2016-2017 edition of the Annual Michael and Mary Jaharis Health Law Institute Symposium will focus on exploring the legal, ethical, and regulatory implications of health care providers’ uses of telehealth. Over the course of the program, legal and medical experts will discuss the top current issues and preview the challenges that lie ahead.
 
Symposium Videos

The New Frontier of Health Innovation: Navigating the Regulatory Landscape

March 15, 2016
 
DePaul's Journal of Health Care Law, the Jaharis Health Law Institute along with the Center for Intellectual Property (CIPLIT©), Law, and Technology, and the DePaul Journal of Art, Technology, and Intellectual Property welcome students, faculty, and practitioners to attend their annual Spring Symposium. At the forefront of the health care sector, medical practitioners, technological savants, and other professionals are working together to use technological advances to improve upon traditional practices. Their work has already had revolutionary effects in certain areas of medicine and many believe that we are only at the tip of the iceberg. However, in order to succeed, health care innovators must navigate through an increasingly complex set of statutory and administrative rules. The Spring Symposium will feature the insights of individuals who overcame these hurdles and the legal practitioners that aided their efforts.
 
Symposium Videos
  • Part I
    • Panel 1: The Impact of Gender and Sex on Innovation and Health Technology
    • Panel 2: Protecting Information in the Face of Innovation: Precision Medicine and Population Health Research in Health Systems
  • Part II
    • Panel 3: An Attorney’s Perspective: The Legal and Regulatory Considerations 
    • ​Ethics Panel: Thinking about Ethics, Healthcare Technology, and the Law

Designer Genes: The Cost of Genetic Information 

March 3, 2015
 
The Jaharis Health Law Institute and DePaul's Journal of Health Care Law, in conjunction with Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science hosted its Annual Health Law Symposium that focused on the discussion surrounding the governmental and private collection of genetic material and information and the legal implications regarding such. In evaluating the topic from a legal standpoint, discussions facilitated concerning informed consent laws, their consequences, and the evolving precedents surrounding this engaging legal issue. 
 
Symposium Videos 
  • Panel I: What’s In Your Genes: The Science Behind it All 
  • Panel II: Genes for Any Occasion: The Current Implications of Collecting Genetic Information
  • Panel III: Putting Your Genes First: Insuring the Future of Clinical Innovation
  • Ethics Presentation: Thinking About Ethics, Physicians & the Law
The Changing Landscape of Pharmaceutical Law & Business 
March 14, 2014
 
Presented by the Jaharis Health Law Institute and DePaul Journal of Health Care Law, the symposium explored the changing landscape of pharmaceutical law & business. The symposium included a combination of keynote addresses and panel discussions on the current problems in the pharmaceutical business, what the pharma field is doing to remedy these issues, and the role of attorneys and business professionals in this new approach. The symposium covered all aspects of the past, present, and future of pharmaceutical development. 
 
Symposium Videos
  • Panel I: How We Got Here: The Past 20 Years of Pharmaceutical Development 
  • Panel II: Where We Are Today: The Current State of Pharmaceutical 
  • Panel III: What Tomorrow Holds: The Future Landscape of Pharmaceutical Development 
  • Ethics Presentation: Thinking About Ethics, Physicians & Industry

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​Crime & the Mentally Ill: New Directions for the Law
April 12, 2013
 
Presented by DePaul's Jaharis Health Law Institute and Journal of Health Care Law, the 2013 Symposium, Crime & the Mentally Ill: New Directions for the Law, explored a broad range of legal issues related to people with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system. Expert lecturers and panelists discussed mental health issues in the criminal justice system with a particular focus on legal and policy considerations and they also highlighted different resources and other recent initiatives that have been implemented in Cook County, Illinois.
​Religion and Family Planning under the U.S. Constitution 
April 19, 2012
 
The 2012 symposium, Religion and Family Planning under the U.S. Constitution, explored and debated the constitutional questions implicated by federal legislation in support of family planning, contraception, and abortion programs. The event featured a panel of representatives from a wide range of religions that presented their particular doctrines on various reproductive issues. In addition to the panel, there was a debate that discussed constitutional issues related to repro whether Freedom of Religion or women's right of access to reproductive care should prevail at the points where they conflict.
Social Media and Healthcare: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly 
April 6, 2011
 
The 2011 symposium presented by the Health Law Institute and ABA Special Committee on Bioethics & the Law brought together a panel of academic, health, and legal experts to address the use of social media by health care providers, patients and health care delivery systems. Social Media and Healthcare: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly offered attendees a chance to explore topics, including rights and legal issues related to the changing media environment.

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