Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2007-02-09

The U.S. Health-Care System: Access, Equity and Efficiency is the topic of a Feb. 22 program sponsored by the Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. The public is invited free of charge to any of the presentations.

Specialists in various aspects of the subject, including U.S. Representative Artur Davis, will be on the program, which will begin at 8:45 a.m. in the moot courtroom of Robinson law building. Cumberland torts and health law professor Leonard "Jack" Nelson will present an overview of the topic at 9 a.m.

Congressman Davis will present the keynote speech at 11 a.m. as this year's Thurgood Marshall Symposium speaker.

A leader in health-care, housing and education issues, Davis was the lead Democratic sponsor of a 2005 bill establishing a national cord blood bank. The bank will widen the availability of blood transfusions for people suffering from diseases such as sickle cell anemia and diabetes. He has chaired the health-care subcommittee of Alabama Governor Bob Riley's Black Belt Action Commission, and serves on House of Representatives committees on financial services, budget, and ways and means.

Other speakers and topics are John Nyman, professor of economics, University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, "Equity is Efficient"; Camara Jones, research director on social determinants of health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Sidney D. Watson, professor and health law specialist, St. Louis University School of Law, "Health-Care Disparities: Race and Poverty."

John V. Jacobi, professor of health law and policy, Seton Hall Law School, and Dr. Robert Ohsfeldt, professor of health policy and management, Texas A & M School of Rural Public Health, will discuss solutions at a concluding session at 3 p.m..

Co-sponsors of the event are Cumberland's Law Review and Black Law Students Association.

For information and schedule, contact Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics director David Smolin at (205) 726-2418 or check the website at www.samford.edu.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.