WHO:

Dena S. Davis, Ph.D., Cleveland-Marshall Professor of Law and Debra S. Grega, Ph.D., Executive Director, The Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

WHAT:

Lines of Communication: Advances in Stem Cell Policy, the 2009 Journal of Law and Health Lecture

WHEN:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.

WHERE:

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Moot Court Room, 1801 Euclid Ave.

NOTE:

One free hour of CLE credit pending

Among Americans, stem cell research and technology inspire both promise and fear: promise to those suffering from such degenerative diseases as ALS or Diabetes or Alzheimer’s; fear among those who see biotechnology as contrary to religious beliefs or who believe biotechnology threatens to open the door to cloning and other forms of genetic engineering. The Obama administration’s recent expansion of the types of cells available for stem cell research has further energized the debate among advocates and opponents.

Cleveland-Marshall’s JOURNAL OF LAW AND HEALTH presents two experts in the fields of biotechnology and biomedical ethics to discuss policies being developed to safeguard medical/ethical standards and assure scientific integrity in stem cell research.

Cleveland-Marshall Professor of Law Dena S. Davis and Case Western Reserve University’s Director of the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Dr. Debra S. Grega will discuss these developments in a free public lecture, Lines of Communication: Advances in Stem Cell Policy, on November 17 at 5:00 p.m. in the Moot Court Room of the law school, 1801 Euclid Avenue.

As a bioethicist and legal scholar, Professor Davis has been the recipient of prestigious grants, fellowships and visiting scholar appointments. She has published over 50 articles in the area of law and medicine—from cloning to genetic engineering—and has lectured and taught at universities and biomedical research institutions around the globe. She is the author, most recently, of GENETIC DILEMMAS: REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY, PARENTAL CHOICES AND CHILDREN’S FUTURES (Oxford 2009). Dr. Davis holds an adjunct appointment at Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Biomedical Ethics and directs the Population Issues Group in CWRU’s Center for Genetic Research Ethics and Law. She is a recent appointee to the National Institutes of Health committee that will determine how the NIH supports stem cell research.

Dr. Grega was named CSCRM Executive Director in 2004. She has had a distinguished career in biomedical research, biotechnology business development, program management, e-commerce and global marketing. CSCRM is a multi-institutional center composed of investigators from Northeast Ohio’s major medical and biomedical research centers, including University Hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic and Athersys Inc. The Center provides a comprehensive and coordinated "bench to bedside" approach to regenerative medicine, including basic and clinical research programs, biomedical and tissue engineering programs, and the development and administration of new therapies to patients.

For more information, contact eric.steiger@law.csuohio.edu, stephanie.baker@law.csuohio.edu or Louise Mooney at 216.687.6886.

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