Events
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Measuring Implementation of Abortion Law, Globally" - Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP
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2026-04-21 12:00:00
2026-04-21 13:00:00
America/New_York
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Measuring Implementation of Abortion Law, Globally" - Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP
Measuring Implementation of Abortion Law, Globally
Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP
Associate Director of Accreditation
Core MPH teaching faculty, Master’s in Public Health Program
University of Pennsylvania
The World Health Organization issues guidelines on abortion care, which include recommendations on abortion law and policy. WHO monitors adherence to its guidelines through tracking the abortion laws and policies of every WHO member state.
As part of this work, Patty Skuster is currently leading a project with WHO to measure implementation of abortion law, globally. The project includes the formation of a theoretical framework for measuring implementation of law, creation of 50 implementation indicators, collection of data for each WHO member state, and the development of composite indicators for comparison between countries and over time. In this talk, Skuster will also describe preceding work on causal modeling of the effect of abortion law on health outcomes, and challenges in bridging theories of policy implementation with identification of suitable metrics.
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Medical Ethics
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity"- Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP
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2026-04-28 12:00:00
2026-04-28 13:00:00
America/New_York
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity"- Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP
Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity
Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics)
Perelman School of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
While in medical school, Dr. Onyeali led the community outreach program for SNMA. She moved to Philadelphia to complete her residency in Internal Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she was an active member of the hospital’s Ethics Committee, co-founded the Women in Medicine program for the Internal Medicine Residency, and actively contributed to the Jefferson Alliance for Minority Health.
During her fellowship, she observed gaps in the health care transitions of older incarcerated adults into the community, which led to her research interest in transitions of care of incarcerated adults with cognitive and functional impairment.
More detail to follow.
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Medical Ethics
Virtual via Zoom
MEHP Special Lecture: "The EMA's Approach to Supporting Rare Disease Drug Development" - Caroline Pothet
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2026-05-05 12:00:00
2026-05-05 13:00:00
America/New_York
MEHP Special Lecture: "The EMA's Approach to Supporting Rare Disease Drug Development" - Caroline Pothet
The EMA's Approach to Supporting Rare Disease Drug Development
Caroline Pothet
Head of Office, Advanced Therapies and Haemato-Oncology
European Medicines Agency (EMA)
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) supports rare disease drug development through a coordinated framework intended to reduces barriers and accelerates medicine development.
This presentation will outline how early scientific dialogue, tailored evidence‑generation strategies, and flexible regulatory pathways help developers advance innovative approaches for the benefit of patients. Key tools include orphan designation, early interaction tools, the PRIME scheme for medicines addressing high unmet need, scientific advice and risk-based approaches to trial design, evidence generation and data requirements.
The EMA also strengthens development through patient involvement, multi‑stakeholder collaboration, and international partnerships that promote regulatory convergence. By combining scientific rigour with proportional flexibility, the EMA enables more efficient development of high‑quality therapies for rare conditions. The session will highlight current practices and opportunities for developers engaging with the Agency.
Caroline Pothet is a pharmacist with a master’s degree in Drug Development and Global Registration of Medicines from Paris University. Before joining the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2020, she spent 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry in regulatory policy, regulatory affairs and clinical development, covering all stages of development and major submission types (incl. clinical trial applications, paediatric plans, request for scientific advice, orphan designation and marketing applications). From 2010 to 2020, she led regulatory strategy and clinical programme designs in oncology and immuno‑inflammation. Working closely with multidisciplinary teams, she deepened her expertise in clinical and methodological aspects of drug development in these therapeutic areas.
At EMA, Caroline initially supported the Committee for Advanced Therapies, Scientific Advice, and the Oncology and Haematology Office. She now heads the Office for Advanced Therapies and Haemato‑Oncology. She also leads the REVAMP project on optimising assessment reports, supports the Oncology and Haematology Working Parties, and contributes to the Clinical Data Submission Programme.
Virtual via Zoom
Penn Medical Ethics
Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom)
Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Ethics of Palliative Care Trials - Katherine Courtright, MD, MSHP
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2026-05-12 12:00:00
2026-05-12 13:00:00
America/New_York
Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Ethics of Palliative Care Trials - Katherine Courtright, MD, MSHP
Ethics of Palliative Care Trials
Katherine Courtright, MD, MSHP
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director of Palliative Care Research in the Department of Medicine
Core Faculty, PAIR Center
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Katherine (Kate) Courtright is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Palliative Care Research in the Department of Medicine, and Core Faculty at the PAIR Center. She attends in the medical intensive care unit and on the inpatient palliative care consult team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Courtright’s research focuses on optimizing the quality and outcomes of palliative care for individuals with serious illness. Her major research interests include developing and implementing novel, scalable strategies to promote timely and equitable palliative care and serious illness communication and evaluating their effects in large pragmatic clinical trials. Relatedly, she is interested in developing innovative approaches to measure patient-centered outcomes reliably and pragmatically using routinely available clinical and administrative data.
More detail to follow.
Registration required; Lunch provided
Streaming available via Zoom.
Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom)
Penn Medical Ethics
CCB 08-031, 8th Floor, 3600 Civic Center Blvd. (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)
Health Policy Research Seminar: Sameed Khatana, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
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2026-05-14 10:00:00
2026-05-14 11:00:00
America/New_York
Health Policy Research Seminar: Sameed Khatana, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Topic: “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Cardiovascular Health.”
Food insecurity has been associated with a number of adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular mortality. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest food-purchasing assistance program and is strongly associated with lower food insecurity. How SNAP impacts health outcomes is less clear, but there is growing evidence that it likely contributes to improved health. Dr. Khatana will discuss recently published and ongoing work, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, that uses different causal inference techniques to identify the impact of SNAP on population and individual-level health outcomes.
Sameed Khatana, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and a physician at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He also serves as the Associate Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Outcomes, Quality, and Evaluative Research (CAVOQER) Center. Dr. Khatana’s research interests include understanding the impact of socioeconomic and environmental factors on cardiovascular health as well as the quantitative evaluation of the health impact of public policies. He has received grant support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association. His research has been published in high impact medical journals including JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Circulation and has been covered by multiple news outlets including CNN, Reuters, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
CCB 08-031, 8th Floor, 3600 Civic Center Blvd. (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)
Penn Medical Ethics
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