Applications are now open for our Summer Institute in Public Health Law, running June 1–5. This one-week (30-hour) online course equips you to understand and respond to key law and policy issues in public health. Grounded in accessible instruction, the program is designed for a wide range of attendees such as health professionals, administrators, public servants, researchers, lawyers, patient partners, and university students. No legal experience is required.
Class size is limited, so we encourage you to apply soon!
Read more >
Applications are now open for our Summer Institute in Public Health Law, running June 1–5. This one-week (30-hour) online course equips you to understand and respond to key law and policy issues in public health. Grounded in accessible instruction, the program is designed for a wide range of attendees such as health professionals, administrators, public servants, researchers, lawyers, patient partners, and university students. No legal experience is required.
Class size is limited, so we encourage you to apply soon!
Read more >
Dana Lin, étudiante en J.D. de l’Université d’Ottawa, a publié son travail de session issu de son cours Introduction to Health Law dans la University of Western Ontario Law Journal, une réalisation rare pour un travail de cours. Dans Health Privacy for All: Identifying Privacy Risks in Canadian Frameworks for Trans Patients, Dana soutient que le droit canadien de la protection de la vie privée ne répond pas adéquatement aux besoins particuliers des personnes trans, qui font face à des risques accrus en matière de confidentialité dans le système de santé. Son article examine les limites des lois canadiennes sur la protection des renseignements de santé, notamment les risques liés aux larges exceptions de divulgation, le chevauchement entre les soins de santé publics et privés, ainsi que le recours accru au partage des données de santé. Il analyse également des approches comparatives dans des juridictions telles que les États-Unis, la Suisse et l’Islande, et propose une réforme du cadre législatif visant à restreindre la portée des exceptions générales et à mettre en place des garanties supplémentaires.
We are so happy to learn that we will be welcoming Dr. Benjamin Meier as our Fulbright visiting scholar from the U.S. in September. Dr. Meier is a professor of global health policy in the Department of Public Policy and the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research is at the intersection of global health, international law and public policy. It examines rights-based approaches to health, including the evolution and application of human rights in global health. As a contributor to the development of global health policy, Dr. Meier serves additionally as a senior scholar at Georgetown Law School’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, as the past chair of the American Public Health Association’s Human Rights Forum, as the human rights chair of the Global Health Law Consortium, and as a consultant to international organizations, national governments and NGOs.
CHLPE's Professor Jennifer Chandler and doctoral student Tristan Borresen have organized a new initiative called Open Mind Talks, aspiring to create an interdisciplinary community at the University of Ottawa across neuroscience, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, law, and informatics, where students and staff can discuss topics on brain science and society. On the last Friday of every month a speaker from one of the faculties will give an informal talk on their work and open for discussion. The first meeting, on April 24 at 3:00 pm, will feature neuroscientist Leonard Maler who will present new research conducted in collaboration with a Berlin team on acoustic communication in Danionella, a tiny tropical fish. Using whole-brain imaging, they found that social sounds like fighting and courtship activate ancient neural circuits tied to motivation and reward rather than higher order cognition. Humans share these same ancient circuits, linking to familiar questions about how rational our decisions really are when social repercussions are in play.
CHLPE's Associate Director Dina Idriss-Wheeler is now Dr. Idriss-Wheeler! Congratulations to Dina on defending her Ph.D. dissertation, Exploring Intimate Partner Violence Health Inequities During COVID-19 Lockdowns in Ontario. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a critical public health issue that affects millions globally. During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health mandates including lockdowns and social distancing requirements created conditions that amplified risks for IPV survivors while simultaneously disrupting access to formal and informal support systems. The aim of Dina's dissertation was to explore how lockdown measures in Ontario shaped experiences of IPV, access to supports, and perceived health outcomes. The research sought to determine whether, and in what ways, survivors of IPV faced disproportionate health inequities during the pandemic compared to the general population. Dina's work demonstrated that IPV survivors faced heightened health inequities during COVID-19 lockdowns, experiencing compounded barriers to support services and worse health outcomes than the general population. Findings revealed gaps in emergency preparedness frameworks, which currently fail to address gender-based violence as a core component of crisis response. There is an urgent need for sustained funding for the VAW sector, integration of IPV considerations into emergency and disaster management strategies, intersectional approaches to service design, and survivor-informed policies that prioritize equity and accessibility during crises.
What does it take to protect a key strategic asset—our health data—in an era of accelerating AI? This episode of the Digital Health podcast explores why data sovereignty is a strategic imperative for Canada, and the digital health future we stand to build—or lose. Featuring CHLPE's Dr. Kumanan Wilson and UO Faculty of Law's Professor Michael Geist.
Hear the podcast:
From AI scribes for doctors to a new remedy for hot flashes, health science took big steps forward this year. Feat. CHLPE's Kumanan Wilson.
