Risk and Resistance: Feminist Interventions in Health Law, Science, and Policy

Conference Agenda

October 3, 2025 | 12:00-5:00 pm ET | Hybrid (AUWCL and Zoom)

 

11:45–12:00 pm ET Check In

12:00–12:30 pm ET Lunch

12:30–12:40 pm ET Welcome Remarks and Dean's Introduction of Keynote Speakers

  • Maya Manian, JD
    Faculty Director of the Health Law and Policy Program, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
  • Heather Hughes, JD
    Interim Dean, American University Washington College of Law

12:40–1:10 pm ET Keynote Address

  • Aziza Ahmed, JD, MS
    Author of Risk and Resistance: How Feminists Transformed the Law and Science of AIDS; Professor of Law and Co-Director of Program on Reproductive Justice, Boston University Law

1:10–1:25 pm ET Keynote Commentator

  • Michele Goodwin, JD, LLM, SJD
    Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy and Co-Faculty Director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown Law

1:25–1:45 pm ET Q&A

1:45–2:00 pm ET Break

2:00–3:15 pm ET Panel 1: Contesting Authority: Social Movements, Identity, and the Making of Health Law and Policy

Moderated by: Lewis Grossman, JD, PhD
Ann Loeb Bronfman Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law

  • Sameer Ashar, JD
    Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Workers, Law, and Organizing Clinic, University of California, Irvine School of Law
  • Serena Mayeri, JD, PhD
    Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law; Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
  • Terry McGovern, JD
    Professor, Health Policy & Management 
    Senior Associate Dean for Student and Academic Affairs, City University of New York's Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy
  • Brishen Rogers, JD
    Professor of Law, Georgetown Law 
  • Matiangai Sirleaf, JD, MA
    Nathan Patz Professor of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law; Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine 

3:15–3:30 pm ET Coffee Break

3:30-4:45 pm ET Panel 2: Feminist Activism, Theorizing Gender, and Public Health

Moderated by: Fernanda Nicola, SJD, PhD
Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law

  • Craig Konnoth, JD
    Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
  • Alice M. Miller, JD

    Co-Director of the Global Health Justice Partnership between Yale School of Law and Public Health Schools, Yale University
    Professor in the Practice, Yale School of Public Health
    Lecturer in Law, Yale School of Law

  • Seema Mohapatra, JD, MPH
    MD Anderson Foundation Endowed Professor in Health Law and Professor of Law, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law

  • Valerie Rochester, MPA
    Executive Director, The Women's Collective

  • Philomila Tsoukala, SJD, MA, LLB
    Professor of Law, Georgetown Law

4:45–5:00 pm ET Closing Remarks

  • Asha Scielzo, JD
    Director of the Health Law and Policy Program, Adjunct Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law