(Clockwise from top left: Matt Bauer, Jack Becker, Bailey Kennedy, Cathy Zhang, Leah Pierson, Kaitlynn Milvert)
We are so excited to welcome a new group of Student Fellows to the Petrie-Flom Center family. These six students are a fantastic cohort of health law policy, biotechnology, and bioethics scholars who join us from across Harvard.
They each will undertake a year-long research project with mentorship from Center faculty and affiliates, and also will blog here at Bill of Health regularly. Keep an eye out for their bylines!
Matt Bauer is a PhD student in the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences program. His research currently focuses on developing genomic tools for infectious disease surveillance. Matt’s research project will focus on exploring an intellectual property framework for balancing public interest and incentive systems in vaccine development.
Jack Becker is a law student (J.D. 2022) with research interests that include bioethics and national security, human enhancement, and the regulation of food, supplements, and exercise. He previously worked for Champions Action Network and the Boomer Esiason Foundation, focusing on fundraising and advocacy for cystic fibrosis. Jack’s research project will explore the rules governing experiments on warfighters, and his research will contribute to a larger Department of Defense-sponsored team investigating artificial intelligence and enhancement.
Bailey Kennedy is a law student (J.D. 2022) and is interested in researching systems that maximize access to health care both in the United States and abroad. She is interested in the ways in which technology can alleviate pressure on health care systems. Her research project will focus on health care rationing in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kaitlynn Milvert is a law student (J.D. 2022). She is interested in the intersection of disability justice and health law. She has worked for the past year with Illinois’s protection and advocacy system for people with disabilities on a wide range of disability rights matters. At HLS, she serves as a Supervising Editor for the Harvard Law Review. Her research project will focus on race and the regulation of involuntary psychiatric treatment.
Leah Pierson is a joint MD-PhD student and is now completing her doctoral training in the Department of Global Health and Population, where she researches ethical issues related to global health priority setting. Her work has appeared in Annals of Internal Medicine, The New York Times, American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, and Global Public Health, among others. Her research project will focus on the ethical implications of uncertainty in global health priority setting.
Cathy Zhang is a law student (J.D. 2023). Cathy’s research interests include telehealth access, pharmaceutical coverage, and payment reform. She has co-authored articles on drug reimbursement, health care coverage, delivery system reforms, and resource allocation ethics. Her research project will focus on a comparative analysis of national telehealth policies.
