| Time | Session | Presenters |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 AM | Registration |
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| 8:30 AM | Introductions |
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| Thomas L. Greaney Chester A. Myers Professor of Law, Director, Center for Health Law Studies Saint Louis University School of Law Elizabeth Pendo Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law |
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| 8:45 AM | Remembering Mary Cosgrove Cosentino Class of 1978 |
Sandra H. Johnson Emerita Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law |
| 8:55 AM | Session one |
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| Moderator –Susan A. FitzGibbon Professor of Law, Director, Wefel Center for Employment Law, Saint Louis University School of Law |
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Genetic Discrimination in the Workplace: Lessons from the Past and Concerns for the Future |
Laurie A. Vasichek Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. |
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Will Directed Evolution Destroy Humanity, and If So, What Can We Do About It? |
Maxwell J. Mehlman Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law; Director, The Law-Medicine Center Case Western Reserve University School of Law; Professor of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine |
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| Of all the new technologies to emerge from the revolution in human genetics, the most troubling is the widespread use of germ line genetic engineering. This would amount to wresting the human evolutionary process away from random genetic mutation and natural selection and instead, directing it ourselves. This talk describes and evaluates the potential dangers of directed evolution and presents a model for thinking about how to address them. | ||
| 10:25 AM | Break | |
10:40 AM |
The Persistence of Race in Biotech Patenting and Drug Development |
Jonathan Kahn J.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Law, Hamline University School of Law |
| In 2005 the FDA approved BiDil, the first drug ever to include a race-specific indication on its label – to treat heart failure in a “black” patient. In the aftermath of this controversial approval and subsequent marketing of the drug, many have wondered whether BiDil was an anomaly or a harbinger of things to come. This presentation explores these concerns in light of specific developments subsequent to the approval of BiDil and considers how similar yet distinct models are developing for the exploitation of race in biomedical practice and product development. It will explore the tensions embedded in the persistent use of racial categories even as specific genetic variations linked to particular drug responses are identified. It will first consider an emerging phenomenon of the rapidly rising use of racial categories in biotech patent applications. It will then consider more specifically several cases of new drugs and diagnostic genetic tests that present direct examples of some of the new strategies being employed to exploit race under the guise of pharmacogenomic advancement. Here race is used to distinguish products and obtain market share in the increasingly competitive arena of biotechnology. The presentation will argue that the promise of leaving race “behind” as more refined “personalized” genetic medicine develops is at present a fantasy that has enabled the continued, indeed, expanding use of race as a quasi genetic category in biomedical research and product development. Race has continued to be used in part because it serves commercial purposes independent of any biomedical utility it is purported to have. | ||
| 11:30 AM | Lunch | |
| 12:30 PM | Session Two |
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Moderator — Efthimios Parasidis Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Hofstra University School of Law |
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Examining the Promise of Personalized Genomic Medicine: An Anthropological Account |
Barbara A. Koenig, Ph.D. Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Ethics; Co-Director, Program in Professionalism & Bioethics, Mayo College of Medicine |
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1:15 PM |
Research 2.0: Social Networking and Personal Genomics |
Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, Ph.D. Senior Research Scholar, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford University Medical School |
| 2:00 PM | Break | |
| 2:15 PM | Round Table
Watch Video  Moderator - Elizabeth Pendo Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law |
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| 3:00 PM | Concluding Remarks |
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For more information about the Center for Health Law Studies, |
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