Georgetown Law home page Continuing Legal Education A-Z index Directories Search Student Services Admissions & Financial Aid Academic Programs About Georgetown Law Alumni Workshops & Institutes Library Faculty & Administration About this site Site map
Symposium ruler

“The first wealth is health,” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life (1860)) but in the United States and around the world, health status and access to health care are strongly correlated to income and socio-economic status. Individuals and families living in poverty are not only more likely to be uninsured, have higher rates of chronic disease and infectious disease, and experience violence and preventable accidents, but also have higher mortality from these health conditions than those with higher incomes.

 

Socio-economic disparities in health status and access to health care are now widely recognized by policy experts and politicians as important barriers to social productivity. However, there is little agreement on solutions to the crisis created by the nexus of poverty and health.

 

The joint symposium on health and poverty hosted by Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law will bring together leading academics and practitioners in the fields of public health, health policy, and health law to propose practical approaches to the health care crisis facing the most vulnerable populations in the United States and around the world.

 

Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy
O'Neill Institute for Global and National Health Law
 
Present the 2008 Symposium on
"The First Wealth is Health":
The Nexus of Health, Poverty, and the Law
Friday, March 28, 2008
10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
 
Hotung International Law Building – Room 1000
 


Event schedule:
 
 
10:00 – 10:30 am            Introductory Remarks
 
10:30 – 11:45 am            Socioeconomic Disparities in Access to Health
 

  • Poverty, Food Security, and the Right to Health
  • Poverty and Cancer Disparities
  • Enslaved by Pain: How the U.S. Public Health System Adds to Disparities in Pain Treatment for African Americans
  • Obesity, Poverty, and the Built Environment: Challenges and Opportunities

12:00 – 1:00 pm            Luncheon Discussion
 
1:15 – 2:30 pm              Access to Health Care – The Crisis of the Uninsured            
 
  • One is the Loneliest Number: Proposals for Promoting Group Coverage Among Low-Income Americans
  • Growing the Toolbox: Diverse Strategies for Lawyers in Campaigns to Expand Coverage
  • Slouching Toward Health Reform: Insights From the Battle Over SCHIP    

2:45 – 4:00 pm              Health and Poverty in the Global Development Context
 
  • Beyond Sex: Legal Reform for HIV/AIDS and Poverty Reduction
  • Propinquity Matters: A Play in Three Acts

4:15 – 5:30 pm              Practical Approaches to Health and Poverty – Public Health Legal Services
 
  • Public Health Legal Services: A New and Powerful Vision?

5:30 – 6:30 pm               Concluding Reception


The symposium schedule is available in PDF format here.

 

The Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy is the nation's premier law journal on poverty issues. As part of its mission to bring an end to the desperate conditions afflicting so many in this wealthy nation, the Journal publishes articles from distinguished law professors and practitioners in poverty-related fields. In addition, the Journal features student research, works from scholars in poverty-related disciplines, and the "voices" of persons living in poverty. The Journal's unique, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary approach to poverty issues and law represents a groundbreaking approach to scholarly publication.

The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law aims to find innovative solutions to the most pressing health concerns facing the nation and the world. Through scholarship, education, research, and reflective problem-solving with partners in the public and private sectors, the O’Neill Institute seeks to increase the use of the law as a positive tool for improving people’s health, particularly for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. More information about The O’Neill Institute is available at: www.oneillinstitute.org.

 

 

 

Revised March 18, 2008 (BEM)