IGI Seminar Series: Ensuring Equitable Access to Health Technologies Discovered and Developed on University Campuses

Summary

Universities serve as a key hub of biomedical innovation, fueling the discovery and development of transformative health technologies. An estimated one-third of drugs and biologics considered scientifically novel or addressing unmet medical needs have been found to be initially developed at universities. Undergirding this crucial academic research is public funding through federal research agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. But despite this public investment, health technologies are licensed to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies without safeguards to ensure equitable global access.

In this seminar, Reshma Ramachandran, a Veterans Affairs Scholar in the National Clinician Scholars Program at the Yale University School of Medicine, will walk through the prior and current history of university licensing practices, efforts to realign university-driven innovation with global access, and continued challenges highlighting recent case studies related to COVID-19. Learn more about her work here.

Join us for the live event on Zoom. All participants and hosts are required to sign into a Zoom account prior to joining meetings.

Speaker

Reshma Ramachandran — Reshma Ramachandran, M.D., M.P.P., is a graduate of the family medicine residency at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. Prior to this role, Reshma worked as an Assistant Scientist as part of the IDEA Initiative at Johns Hopkins, where she focused on antimicrobial resistance and access to medicines including state and federal drug pricing proposals. Reshma trained in medicine at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University and in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Previously, she served as the first PharmFree Fellow with the American Medical Student Association focused on removing the undue influence of pharmaceutical companies on both prescribing and medical education from academic medical centers. She currently serves as a board member of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) North America and part of the National Steering Committee for the Doctors for America Drug Affordability Action Team.