Georgia Law to host Ebola panel covering domestic and international issues

Abstract

Georgia Law to host Ebola panel covering domestic and international issues

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Writer: Heidi M. Murphy, 706/583-5487, hmurphy@uga.edu Contact: Laura Tate Kagel, 706/542-5141, lkagel@.uga.edu

UGA School of Law to host Ebola panel covering domestic and international issues

Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia School of Law’s Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy will host a panel discussion on domestic and international issues relating to the Ebola virus on Jan. 21 at 12:30 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall on North Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The current Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 6,000 lives and it has spread to not only six African countries, but also to North America and Europe, according to panel organizer and moderator Fazal Khan, who is an associate professor at the law school.

“Other contagious aspects of the Ebola epidemic have been fear of groups and individuals who may have been exposed to the virus and distrust of official responses to control the outbreak,” Khan said. “Furthermore, for governments and public health organizations combatting the spread of Ebola, this outbreak poses a significant challenge as these actors have to navigate through legal and public health governance systems at both the international and domestic levels.”

With experts in international public health law, domestic public health law and global public health policy, the panel will address: what authority the federal government has to detain, isolate and/or quarantine individuals with Ebola; consent and privacy issues for Ebola patients undergoing treatment; travel restrictions for people leaving West Africa and the sealing of borders for countries with an Ebola epidemic; the roll out of experimental drugs being developed in the United States to Africa and the significance of Ebola being identified as a threat to international peace and security by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2177.

The panelists will include: Matthew Penn, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Law Program Director; Polly J. Price, Emory University professor of law; and Phaedra S. Corso, UGA College of Public Health’s UGA Foundation Professor of Human Health.

For more information, please contact Laura Tate Kagel at lkagel@uga.edu.

UGA School of Law Consistently regarded as one of the nation's top public law schools, the UGA School of Law was established in 1859. With an accomplished faculty, which includes authors of some of the country's leading legal scholarship, Georgia Law offers three degrees – the Juris Doctor, the Master of Laws and the Master in the Study of Law – and is home to the renowned Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy. Its advocacy program is counted among the nation’s best, winning four national championships in 2013-14 alone. For more information, see www.law.uga.edu.

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