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Toward a Healthier Future��

An interdisciplinary initiative seeks to lead the conversation on important health matters

By Andrew Faught

Since 1900, annual mortality rates in the United States have dropped precipitously, thanks to better diagnostics, new medical devices and the arrival of groundbreaking drugs. Even more health gains are on the horizon, with the development of artificial intelligence and nascent technologies like 3D printing of medical devices.

This innovation often occurs at the intersection of health care and law. ����ֱ��’s new Health Innovation Lab, launched in November, promises to be a leading voice in the conversation, bringing together experts across disciplines to help identify innovations and trends impacting health care, primarily along the Interstate 95 corridor between Boston and Washington, DC.

“We’re creating new infrastructure for research, for awareness and for conversations to happen,” says Ana Santos Rutschman, SJD, LLM, the lab’s founder and director. “It will be a catalyst to spark new ideas and new research collaborations.”

The lab is being funded by the Charles Widger School of Law, where Professor Rutschman teaches and researches topics related to health law, intellectual property and innovation in the life sciences.

The lab ultimately will include five faculty affiliates representing various fields, in addition to student research affiliates. The center plans to publish research papers, the first two of which will focus on the regulation of microplastics and the impact of pharmacy benefit managers on drug prices.

Monika Pogorzelska-Maziarz, PhD, MPH, CIC, FAPIC, FSHEA, FACE, a Nursing professor who is an infectious disease epidemiologist, has joined her Law School colleagues as a faculty affiliate for the lab. Her research will consider the degree to which hospitals are properly staffed to prevent health care-related infections, such as central line-associated bloodstream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

“What really drew me to the lab is its interdisciplinary approach,” Dr. Pogorzelska-Maziarz says. “For any type of health care challenge, especially those related to innovation, you need input from multiple fields, whether it’s law, nursing or public health. We all need to come together and look at these problems from a multidisciplinary lens.”

The lab expects to have five to seven research projects occurring simultaneously, according to Professor Rutschman. Future projects will delve into vaccines and pandemic preparedness. The lab hosts an ongoing speaker series and plans to hold conferences around its work, beginning next year.

Research could help shape policy, she says.“Nobody in the Philadelphia area or the Northeastern corridor is doing this from a health innovation perspective,” Professor Rutschman notes. “I’ve been getting emails, and people want to be involved. There’s excitement about it, and I’m more than ready to tap into that.”