​Three Focus Areas at the Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics

"Synthetic biology offers great promise for a new and improved generation of genetically engineered microbes, plants, and animals…To achieve this promise, the public must be assured that the U.S. regulatory agencies are able to review these products as effectively as they have over the past two decades. [We have] identified several issues and options for policymakers to update the current U.S. regulatory system for biotechnology." —Robert Friedman, PhD, Vice President for Policy, J. Craig Venter Institute

Research

Faculty, students and research fellows will explore solutions to the continuing challenges facing the healthcare biotechnology and medical technology industries. The Center will have an interdisciplinary focus, analyzing issues from a legal, health science and business perspective, promoting research on legal, ethical and policy issues related to novel and often controversial scientific and medical advances.

Each year, the Center will hold an interdisciplinary symposium addressing a major topic proposed by the Advisory Board. The proceedings will be published in the San Diego Journal for Health Law Policy & Bioethics. The journal will also contain articles and comments addressing major issues and topics in health law, biomedical technology and bioethics.

Policy

The Center will promote public discourse in topics of healthcare, biotechnology and medical and information technologies through conferences, lectures and workshops. The Center will integrate research and analysis, legal training and public education, and provide a forum for policy studies and reports on issues of local and global importance.

The Center will bring together experts from the medical, legal and academic communities to discuss current and complex issues and propose solutions to challenges in the healthcare, biotechnology and information technology industries.

Education

The Center will provide experiential learning opportunities to train students to be policymakers and leaders in law, science and medicine. The Center will also sponsor symposia and lectures on legal, medical and ethical issues of public interest and importance.