BMORENEWS.com

Delegate Dan Morhaim, M.D.

Advocacy and Action: Local, State, Regional, and National Perspectives on Health and Health Care

Organized and hosted by

Dan Morhaim, M.D. – Faculty, Health Policy & Management

Ellen MacKenzie, PhD – Chair, Health Policy & Management

ALL NOON-1:15PM, HAMPTON HOUSE AUDITORIUM, 624 N. BROADWAY, BALTIMORE, MD 21205

Free lunch for all who attend. Seating open, no RSVP required. Details: call Pamela Davis at 410-614-1580.

September 13: Medical Marijuana with Mary Lynn McPherson, Pharm D; Joshua Sharfstein, M.D – Maryland Secretary of Health; Dan Riffle, Attorney, Marijuana Policy Project.

          Seventeen states and D.C. have approved programs for the medical use of marijuana. Should marijuana be made more available for medical use? What are the benefits and risks? How does marijuana compare to other medications? Our expert panel includes medical, pharmacy, and legal perspectives.

September 27: The Lobbyist Panel: Barbara Brocato, Robin Shaivitz, Don Murphy, Frank Boston, and Pegeen Townsend

Lobbyists: Hired guns manipulating the political process or essential advocates in the machinery of democracy? How do lobbyists work? How do they see the political system? You know the issues, but if you really want to influence policy and policy makers, you won't want to miss hearing from our panel of experts. They represent diverse clients, from hospitals and universities to police to health professionals to marijuana proponents.  They are the masters of persuasion. Listen, learn their secrets, and be more effective.

October 4: Health Reform and the Presidential Election: ObamaCare vs. RomneyCare

          Key representatives of both Presidential campaigns will discuss, debate, and dissect their various approaches to health care reform. What is the impact of the Supreme Court decision? How does each view the individual mandate? What are the likely policy decisions each would make as President? With the election around the corner, this hot topic will be a key focus of everyone’s attention.

October 18: Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings

          Over the years, Elijah Cummings has distinguished himself in office, first as Speaker Pro Tem in the Maryland General Assembly and since 1996 as a Congressman serving as Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus and now as ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He is Co-founder and Chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy where he leads efforts to address nationwide medication shortages, curb steroid use among athletes, and reduce health care disparities.

October 25: Science and Public Policy in Conflict

          What happens when science conflicts with public policy and perception? An intense argument often follows, as we witnessed when federal panels recommended changes in breast cancer screenings and the use of PSA for prostate disease. Protests from practitioners and patients clashed with reports from experts. Kenneth Lin MD, Ben Lowentritt MD, and Dawn Leonard MD will explore these issues that go to the very basis of how decisions are made in a world of changing facts and values.

November 1: New uses for old Drugs with Vikas Sukhatme, MD, PhD

          What if inexpensive and commonly used medications are found to have amazing properties in treating cancer and other diseases? That appears to be the case with metformin and propranolol. But no pharmaceutical company will do the research because there’s no profit in new uses for old drugs. Dr. Vikas Sukhatme earned a PhD in physics from MIT and MD from Harvard. Recently named Chief Academic Officer at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he engages in both basic science and patient-oriented research. How can public policy be changed so that these medications can be properly studied and used? This compelling presentation will span science, research funding, the role of FDA, pharmaceutical companies, and ask tough questions about how money drives policy.

Tags: The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health :: 2012 Fall Seminar Series – 11th Year