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 >
A series of panels organized by the University of Ottawa Research Chair in Science Diplomacy. These panels will engage with the future of science diplomacy in a rapidly changing global order, even if we are not yet sure what the destination will look like.
University of Ottawa J.D. student Dana Lin has published her term paper from her Introduction to Health Law course in the University of Western Ontario Law Journal, a rare achievement for a course paper. In Health Privacy for All: Identifying Privacy Risks in Canadian Frameworks for Trans Patients, Dana argues that Canadian privacy law fails to adequately address the unique needs of trans people, who face increased privacy risks in the healthcare system. Her paper considers the limitations of Canada’s health privacy laws, including the risks posed by broad disclosure exceptions, the overlap of public and private health care, and the increased use of health data sharing. Additionally, it examines comparative approaches from jurisdictions such as the U.S., Switzerland, and Iceland, and proposes a refinement of privacy legislation that narrows the scope of broad exceptions and implements additional safeguards.
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.
