Four Must-Go Health Law Conferences

I want to encourage those working in health law (especially as academics) to strongly consider attending the following four conferences each year.

(1)  As an officer
of the AALS Section on Law, Medicine, and Healthcare, I hope that you are planning
to attend the Section’s programs at the 2014
AALS Meeting in New York City.  There
are two sessions of interest:

The Role of Nonprofits under the Affordable Care Act  (Jan 3, 10:30-12:15)

The program will examine the role of nonprofit and other tax-exempt
organizations under the Affordable Care Act of 2010.  Topics include the Act's impact on
nonprofits, including the ACA¹s new requirements for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
hospitals, the participation of nonprofit hospitals in Accountable Care
Organizations (ACOs), and the creation of nonprofit Consumer Operated and
Oriented Plans (CO-OPs).

• Speaker: Kathleen M. Boozang, Seton Hall University School of Law


• Speaker: Thomas L. Greaney, Saint Louis University School of Law


• Speaker: Mark A. Hall, Wake Forest University School of Law


• Speaker: Eleanor D. Kinney, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney
  School of Law


• Moderator and Speaker: Robert A. Katz, Indiana University Robert H.
  McKinney School of Law 

Sustainability and Health  (Jan
4, 2:00-3:45)

This panel will explore the effects of the environment on health in
western nations and the role that sustainability initiatives play with regard
to wellness. Possible topics include the effects of urban planning on obesity,
the consequences of factory farming for human health, the link between ground
water and air pollution and childhood illnesses, and the effects of local and
sustainable food movements on human health. This will be an interdisciplinary
panel spanning health, environmental, and animal law and policy as well as
public health, land use, and urban planning.

• Speaker: Carl S. Hacker, Ph.D., The University of Texas Health Science
  Center at Houston


• Speaker: Oliver Luck, West Virginia University’s Department of
  Intercollegiate Athletics


• Speaker: Laurie Ristino, Vermont Law School


• Speaker: Jonathan Rosenbloom, Drake University Law School


• Speaker: Paul Shapiro, The Humane Society of the United States


• Moderator: Ani B. Satz, Emory University School of Law

(2) As a member of the ASBH program committee,
I hope that you will attend the many excellent law and bioethics sessions at
the October 2013 ASBH Annual meeting in Atlanta.  These include:

The Status of Prenatal Humans in Law, Ethics, and Health Care: Person?
Patient? Nothing?  (Oct. 24, 1:00-2:30)

• Lawrence J. Nelson, JD PhD, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA


• Alyssa Henning, MA, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL


• Brian Buckley, JD PhD MPhil, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

The Undocumented Unwell: International and Comparative (Oct. 25,
8:00-9:00)
Legal and Ethical Perspectives

• Jonathan H. Marks, MA BCL (Oxon), Penn State University, University
  Park, PA

Law Affinity Group  (Oct. 25, 11:30-12:45)

Postprivacy and Progress: Emerging Legal and Ethical Issues in Whole
Genome Sequencing  (Oct. 25, 11:45-12:45)

• Elizabeth R. Pike, JD LLM, Presidential Commission for the Study of
  Bioethical


• Issues, Washington, DC


• Kayte Spector-Bagdady, JD MBioethics, Presidential Commission for the
  Study


• of Bioethical Issues, Washington, DC


• Rachel S. Bressler, JD, Presidential Commission for the Study of
  Bioethical


• Issues, Washington, DC


• Nicolle K. Strand, JD MBioethics, Presidential Commission for the Study
  of


• Bioethical Issues, Washington, DC

The Internet Revolution and the Necessary Evolution of Informed Consent   (Oct. 25, 1:00-2:30)

• Jessica Berg, JD MPH, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

 Legal Update 2013: Top 10 Legal Developments in Bioethics  (Oct. 26, 11:45-12:45)

• Amy T. Campbell, JD MBE, State University of New York Upstate Medical


• University, Syracuse, NY


• Thaddeus M. Pope, JD PhD, Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
  MN


• Alicia Ouellette, JD, Albany Law School, Albany, NY


• Arthur Derse, MD JD, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Am I (Still) a Human Research Subject? Evolution of Moral and Legal
Thought on the Rights of Participants in Novel Forms of Research (Oct. 26,
4:30-5:30)

• Beth E. Roxland, JD MBioethics, Hofstra University, New York, NY

The End of End-of-Life Law (Oct. 27, 8:30-9:30)

• Lois L. Shepherd, JD, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Late-Breaking Session: Office for Human Research Protections and
SUPPORT (Oct. 27, 9:45-10:45)

• Nancy M. P. Kind, JD, Wake Forest School of Medicine and Wake Forest


• University, Winston-Salem, NC


• Carl T. D’Angio, MD, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester,
  NY


• Benjamin S. Wilford, MD, University of Washington and Seattle
  Children’s


• Hospital, Seattle, WA


• Lois Shepherd, JD, University of Virgina School of Medicine and School
  of Law,


• Charlottesville, VA

Presumed Consent Laws Are Not the Answer to Increasing Organ Donation: How Can We Find Out What Is?   (Oct. 27, 11:00-12:00)

• Jennifer S. Bard, JD MPH, Texas Tech University School of Law, Lubbock,
  TX

(3)  This one may be under the radar for some.  I want to encourage health law professors and scholars to plan
to attend the Southeastern Association of
Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Conference in Amelia Island, Florida in August
2014.  I just finished attending the 2013
SEALS conference at the Breakers in Palm Beach. 
The luxurious location alone is reason enough.  But what might not be well-known is that this
conference includes significant health law programming.  Indeed, on Friday and Saturday, I attended
and participated in ten (10) hours of panels and workshops with around 30
health law professors.



(4)  Finally, lawyers teaching health law - whether in a law school, medical school, public health, or elsewhere - really should attend the annual ASLME Health Law Professors Meeting.  This is the largest and best academic conference devoted to health law.  The 2014 meeting will be June 5-7 at U.C. Hastings Law in San Francisco.