GU Experts Discuss Cancer Vaccine

On March 12, 2007, two Georgetown University experts discussed the ethical, legal, and scientific implications of the new human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. The vaccine blocks the two strains of HPV that give rise to nearly 75 percent of cervical cancer cases.

Richard Schlegel, M.D., Ph.D., whose lab helped create the vaccine, addressed the science behind the discovery of the vaccine. He is professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Following Schlegel's presentation, Larry Gostin, J.D., a renowned public health faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center, discussed the ethical and legal dimensions of attempts to make the vaccine mandatory.

At Georgetown Law, Gostin serves as faculty director of the Linda and Timothy O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, a joint effort with the School of Nursing & Health Studies. He is also the O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law.

Photo: [left to right] Richard Schlegel, M.D., Ph.D.,  
Larry Gostin, J.D.,and Michael Stoto, Ph.D.,  
a professor in the NHS Department of Health Systems  
Administration, discuss the vaccine after the presentations.