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Research Programs

Petrie-Flom Center: Health Law, Biotech and Bioethics

  • In soda tax fight, echoes of tobacco battles

    February 19, 2020

    Amid rising rates of diabetes and obesity in the nation, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School recently hosted a panel discussion concerning levies—those enacted, those proposed and those failed—on sugary beverages in jurisdictions nationwide.

  • Glenn Cohen with Chris Bavitz at Petrie-Flom Center General Counsel Roundtable

    Health care general counsels explore pressing health policy and legal issues at Harvard Law School

    December 11, 2019

    The General Counsels Roundtable helps influential health law attorneys stay on top of or even ahead of changes in health law and policy. The roundtable connects GC to experts at HLS and the broader university, while also strengthening ties between faculty and legal practice.

  • On the Bookshelf: HLS Library Book Talks, Spring 2018 2

    On the Bookshelf: HLS Authors

    December 11, 2019

    This fall, the Harvard Law School Library hosted a series of book talks by Harvard Law School authors on topics ranging from forgiveness in law, transparency in health and fidelity in constitutional practice.

  • Portrait of Robert Greenwald seated in an armchair

    A Q&A with Robert Greenwald on ‘getting to zero’ and the success of PEPFAR, 15 years later

    October 22, 2019

    Clinical Professor Robert Greenwald discusses PEPFAR’s impact at home in the United States, policy barriers to "getting to zero," and ways to address the epidemic head-on.

  • Illustration

    A Question of Prevention

    August 6, 2019

    Calls are growing for the U.S. to lift a ban on mitochondrial replacement therapy, or MRT, a procedure developed to enable women who are at risk of passing on rare but devastating diseases to have healthy, biologically related children.

  • I. Glenn Cohen

    One thing to change: Question that status quo

    July 29, 2019

    As part of a series called Focal Point, in which the Harvard Gazette asks a range of Harvard faculty members to answer the same question, I. Glenn Cohen explains why we should scrutinize what is and then ponder what should be.

  • Dalia Deak ’19, winner of the David Grossman Clinical Exemplary Student Award (Individual).

    Dalia Deak receives the David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award

    May 21, 2019

    Dalia Deak ’19 is this year’s winner of the individual David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Award, given each year to the student who embodies the pro bono spirit of the late professor and exemplifies putting theory into practice through clinical work.

  • I. Glenn Cohen and Dean John F. Manning

    The Second Reproductive Revolution: Glenn Cohen delivers chair lecture

    May 21, 2019

    In a lecture titled “The Second Reproductive Revolution,” I. Glenn Cohen, the faculty director of the Petrie-Flom Center, marked his appointment as the first James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law.

  • Video: Trauma at the Border

    Video: Trauma at the Border

    March 11, 2019

    A recent event at Harvard Law School brought together scientists and lawyers to start a dialogue on neuroscience, trauma, and justice as part of the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Petrie-Flom Center at HLS and Massachusetts General Hospital.

  • Perspectives on gene editing 1

    Perspectives on gene editing

    January 11, 2019

    Harvard researchers—including HLS Professor and Petrie-Flom Center Faculty Director Glenn Cohen—and others share their views on key issues in the field.

  • A cautionary tale for Silicon Valley

    A cautionary tale for Silicon Valley

    October 9, 2018

    The Wall Street Journal investigative reporter whose new book chronicles the spectacular collapse of the blood-testing company Theranos and its alleged fraudulent activity told a Harvard audience that the fall is a cautionary tale for other high-tech firms aspiring to disrupt the health care industry.

  • Outbreak Week: How prepared are we for the next health crisis?

    Outbreak Week: How prepared are we for the next health crisis?

    October 5, 2018

    Last week, Harvard commemorated the centennial of the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed more than 50 million people worldwide with Outbreak Week, a series of events across the university.

  • Big questions raised by big data 1

    Big questions raised by big data

    September 20, 2018

    During the introduction to the book launch event for “Big Data, Health Law, and Bioethics,” one of the editors, Harvard Law School Professor I. Glenn Cohen ’03, faculty director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, told a story about how powerful – and perhaps foreboding – big data can be.

  • Maayan Sudai, an S.J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School

    S.J.D. candidate awarded scholarship to study health activism from a legal perspective

    May 1, 2018

    Maayan Sudai, an S.J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School, has been awarded a prestigious scholarship from Israel’s Dan David Foundation to support her work examining health activism from a legal perspective.

  • Petrie-Flom Center launches Project on Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and the Law (PMAIL)

    Petrie-Flom Center launches Project on Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and the Law (PMAIL)

    January 31, 2018

    On Jan. 23, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Center for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL) at the University of Copenhagen launched a new collaboration, the Project on Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and the Law (PMAIL).

  • On the Bookshelf: HLS Library Books 2017 12

    On the Bookshelf: HLS Authors

    December 14, 2017

    This fall, the Harvard Law School Library hosted a series of book talks by HLS authors, with topics ranging from Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts to a Citizen's Guide to Impeachment. As part of this ongoing series, faculty authors from various disciplines shared their research and discussed their recently published books.

  • Glenn Cohen wearing bright red glasses

    Glenn Cohen on animals, AI and morality

    December 6, 2017

    This fall, Glenn Cohen, Harvard Law School professor and faculty director for the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics delivered a talk titled “Are There Non-human Persons? Are There Non-person Humans?,” which explored how law and morality should accommodate animals and artificial intelligence alongside human beings.

  • Einer R. Elhauge

    Elhauge to receive the Jerry S. Cohen Award for Antitrust Scholarship

    June 2, 2017

    Harvard Law School Professor Einer Elhauge ’86 will receive the prestigious Jerry S. Cohen Award for Antitrust Scholarship from the American Anititrust Institute at their annual conference on June 21.

  • Harvard report compares NFL’s health policies and practices to other pro sports leagues’

    May 15, 2017

    While the NFL’s player health policies and practices are robust in some areas, there are opportunities for improvement in others, according to the findings of a new report by researchers at Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center -- the first comprehensive comparative analysis of health policies and practices across professional sports leagues.

  • The Affordable Care Act: Past, Present and Future with William Schultz

    April 25, 2017

    On March 23, William B. Schultz, former general counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2011-2016), discussed the complicated politics surrounding the Affordable Care Act and possible policy options for the next phase of the law’s evolution.

  • Glenn Cohen wearing bright red glasses

    The promise and peril of emerging reproductive technologies

    January 20, 2017

    Harvard Law School Professor Glenn Cohen co-authored an article for the journal Science Translational Medicine on the legal and ethical considerations regarding in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), a new, experimental technique that allows scientists to grow embryos in a lab by reprograming adult cells to become sperm and egg cells.