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Law School will screen both talks Nov. 16

Professors Alta Charo and Meg Gaines will speak at TEDMED, the annual conference that showcases the latest ideas in health and medicine. They are two of approximately 30 international thought leaders, out of thousands who were considered for the event.

Charo and Gaines, both UW Law School faculty, will take TEDMED’s main stage in Palm Springs, California, on November 1 and 3, respectively.

The Law School invites the public to a screening of both talks at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16, in Lubar Commons. Professors Charo and Gaines will be on hand for a brief question-and-answer session on their presentations.

Alta Charo: Balancing public concerns with scientific possibilities


 
Alta Charo

Through her extensive scholarship and service, Charo has helped clarify the ethical, moral and legal standards around emerging technologies in the health sciences. In her TEDMED talk, Charo will examine how researchers can balance understandable public fears around scientific advances with their potentially life-saving benefits.

Charo is an international authority on bioethics who has long studied the tensions between societal attitudes and controversial research. She served on President Clinton’s National Bioethics Advisory Committee and President Obama’s Health and Human Services transition team. In her work with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine she drafted national guidelines for embryonic stem cell research, helped to oversee federal bioterrorism prevention programs, and participated in reform of the drug safety system.

Most recently, Charo co-chaired a National Academies initiative on human genome editing research. Its landmark report last February advocated for the use of gene editing for prevention and cure of diseases, and for heritable germline editing in limited circumstances.

Meg Gaines: Exploring the promise of health care partnerships


 
Meg Gaines

Gaines founded the Center for Patient Partnerships, based at UW Law School, to transform patients’ health care experiences. The center provides pro bono advocacy for people facing serious illness, while at the same time educating future service professionals – doctors, lawyers, social workers, psychologists, pharmacists, nurses and policy-makers – to better serve their clients.

Gaines recently received the Ellen Stovall Award, a national prize recognizing innovation in cancer care. Prior to that, she received the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award from the American Cancer Society. She serves on the National Academy of Medicine’s steering committee on Vital Directions for Health and Health Care, co-authoring its 2017 report on the priorities central to helping the nation achieve better health at lower cost.

At TEDMED Gaines will outline her vision for the future of health care where patients and clinicians join as partners to co-create care plans and achieve better health outcomes. She’ll share the story of founding the center after she herself survived cancer against tough odds and speak to health care policy at the national level.

Submitted by Law School News on November 3, 2017

This article appears in the categories: Articles, UW Women in Law

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