Dear Reader,
Welcome back! I would first like to thank all of our readers and contributors for your unwavering support this past year. The 2013-2014 academic year was an exciting and busy year filled with extraordinary accomplishments. We are thrilled about our progress and we are excited about the future of the Health Law Institute at DePaul University College of Law!
I want to highlight just a few of the accomplishments and notify you of some of our upcoming events. We are especially proud of our programming last year and the scheduled lecture series for the 2014-2015 academic year. Last year, we welcomed distinguished lecturers who presented on the preventative services mandate, elder law, the responsible corporate officer doctrine, and FDA food labeling litigation, to name just a few. This year, we are pleased to offer lectures on the Hobby Lobby decision, False Claims Act developments, sexual offenders in the mental health system, informed consent, HIV/AIDS notification requirements, and other exciting topics! Our next programming event will be on Tuesday, September 16 during the noon hour on the Hobby Lobby Decision. CLE credit is available!
Our Annual Health Law Symposium last spring was also a huge success! We offered a full day program addressing the changing landscape of pharmaceutical law and business with great speakers from the American Medical Association, Walgreens, Baxter International, and a number of prestigious law firms. We thank everyone who was able to attend the program, either in-person or via our live stream. Since the Symposium, we have had over 5,000 individuals access the program through the link on our website. If you were unable to attend, you may view the recordings on our website, as well as the E-Pulse article published by the Symposium Director!
One of the greatest assets the Institute offers is our Summer Scholars program, which allows us to place students at highly respected health law firms, companies and associations throughout the Chicagoland area. The students are selected through an application process and are carefully paired with employers practicing in their preferred area. We are able to offer the students a stipend during the summer months because of the generosity of our donors. Last academic year, we were able to accept seven students, which is twice as many as in years prior. Over the summer, our students externed at two departments at the American Medical Association, Goldberg Law Offices, Rush University Medical Center, Walgreens Corporation, Presence Health, and Fresenius Kabi. Congratulations to the students who were accepted and thank you to those of you who make this all possible!
We continue to offer publication opportunities to students, alumni and practitioners through the Health Law Institute. In this market especially, it is so important that our students are afforded opportunities to publish and remain active participants in health law associations. We have transitioned our Journal of Health Care Law to a bi-annual publication, with a special online edition on our annual symposia. The Editor-in-Chief of last year’s Journal, Gretchen Harper, worked tirelessly to maintain our publication timeline. We are proud to welcome Nelson Dunlap as the new Editor-in-Chief and we look forward to his additions. Our Editor-in-Chief of the E-Pulse, Jennifer Chow, has also worked tirelessly to re-launch the DePaul Health Law Newsletter. The E-Pulse, is a bimonthly online newsletter that celebrates the intersection between law and medicine. In addition to student contributions, the E-Pulse accepts submissions from attorneys and other business professionals on a rolling basis. Please contact me if you would like more information on either publication opportunity!
The accomplishments over the past year were made possible because of the dedication and support of our Advisory Board members, our Student Board of Directors, our Fellows, and our alumni. I would also like to thank Assistant Professor Wendy Netter Epstein, Associate Professor Max Helveston, former Dean Gregory Mark, and Interim Dean Bruce Ottley for their efforts and support this past year. Most of all, I would like to thank our health law students for their passion and hard work. We welcome you to this great field!
Katherine V. Schostok, JD, LLM
Director, Health Law Institute
kschosto@depaul.edu