Highlights 2020 Feature Story

Professor Thaddeus Pope – Fulbright Scholar Award

Mitchell Hamline professor Thaddeus Pope will spend the first months of 2021 doing research in Canada’s capital city after receiving a Fulbright Scholar Award.

Pope, director of Mitchell Hamline’s Health Law Institute, has long worked on legal issues surrounding end-of-life care. He often helps public health and elected leaders shape policy. His research on the topic will continue during his time at the University of Ottawa, where he’ll be a research chair in health law, policy, and ethics.

Specifically, Pope will compare end-of-life care policies between Canada and the United States, focusing on medical aid in dying (MAID), medical futility, and brain death.

“Canada has more meaningfully grappled with increasingly pressing end-of-life liberty issues in its courts, legislatures, and other policymaking bodies,” Pope wrote in his application for the award, which includes a $25,000 stipend. “Given the overlap of U.S. and Canadian interests and approaches to health law and bioethics, this project will benefit both Canadian and U.S. lawmakers.

“I am excited to work more closely with Canadian policymakers on end-of-life healthcare issues.”

Pope is also a frequent media expert on the topic, including a recent story about end-of-life considerations during the ongoing pandemic.

New National Student Health Law Writing Competition

This year marked the inaugural Roy Snell Health Care Regulatory & Compliance Writing Competition. Despite the disruptions and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition attracted outstanding student participation.

All submissions were judged by a panel of independent legal and compliance experts. Neither the entrant’s identity nor academic institution was known to the judges. Top honors were awarded to the following students: