Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics: Petrie Dishes

Fireside Chat: I. Glenn Cohen and Rochelle Walensky

Professor Glenn Cohen, Faculty Director of the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School interviews Dr. Rochelle Walensky, 19th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Senior Academic Fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center. They discuss Dr. Walensky’s career as an infectious disease clinician focused on HIV/AIDS, her experience leading the CDC during COVID-19, and her reflections on public health infrastructure in the United States and internationally.

Cold Comfort

Should Social Robots be Used to Provide Emotional Support? PARO is a cuddly baby seal used as an emotional companion robot in elder care. Emotional companion robots provide some of the benefits of therapy animals, without the attendant challenges of a live animal. But while emotional companion robots can provide comfort to older adults, they might also provide a way out for human caretakers. Beyond the question of substitution, ethical concerns about the potentially deceptive nature of emotional companion robots make PARO the adorable seal into something a bit less cuddly and a bit more ethically challenging. This episode will untangle the dilemma posed by social robots. Cynthia Chauhan (a patient advocate and two-time cancer survivor) will share her experience using one; Ari Waldman (an authority on the nexus of law and technology) will discuss the issues that arise when animatronics replace human caretakers. Created with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

There’s an App for That

How Should We Regulate Digital Health Technology? The current digital health marketplace has been described as a wild west. Every day, consumer products making strong claims are brought to market without sufficient evidence and often withdrawn only when enforcement actions are brought against them.  There are already apps that claim to detect melanomas, treat ADHD, and improve vision. This episode delves into the exploding world of digital health apps. Are they safe? What happens when they make false claims? And how should we regulate them? Cynthia Chauhan (a patient advocate) shares what patients want from these apps; Anand Shah (a former deputy FDA commissioner) and Nic Terry (an expert in the intersection of health, law, and technology) shed light on the fast-shifting regulatory landscape. Created with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

Is That AI Racist?

How AI Bias Is Affecting Health Care—And What We Can Do About It People are biased, and people build AI, so AI are biased, too. When AI is used in hospitals to treat patients, that bias comes to health care.  For example, a 2019 paper in Science found that a commercial risk-prediction tool was less likely to refer equally sick Black people than white people to receive extra care resources. In fact, only 17.7% of patients that the algorithm assigned to get extra care were Black, but, if the algorithm were unbiased, the percentage would be much higher—46.5%. This episode will look at how the racial disparities baked into the health care system also make their way into the AI that the health care system uses, creating a vicious cycle. Nic Terry (an expert in the intersection of health, law, and technology) and Ravi Parikh (a practicing oncologist and bioethicist) will discuss legal and ethical concerns. Michael Abramoff (an ophthalmologist, AI pioneer, and entrepreneur) will share how he’s trying to build a fairer AI Created with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

Privacy from the Inside Out

How secure is data collected by digital pills? Ingestible electronic sensors (IESs or “digital pills”) can be taken with or as a part of a drug in order to collect and record patient data, such as medication adherence or physiological metrics. This information can then be shared with relevant parties, including the patient, family members, and health care providers. This episode will address the complex legal, ethical, and legislative issues raised by digital pills. Cynthia Chauhan (a patient advocate and two-time cancer survivor) will share her experience using an implantable sensor, and Ari Waldman (an authority on the nexus of law and technology) will describe the challenges for security, privacy, and ethics. Created with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Cammann Fund at Harvard University.