Equity Driven Open Science Policies in Biomedical Research: A New Model for Drug Discovery in Rare Diseases?

10:30 - 11:00 | Dr Rachel Harding (Huntington's Disease Society of America Career Development Fellow; Huntington's disease research team leader at the Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto)

Drug discovery too often focuses on the bottom-line rather than on the people who the development of new medicines might benefit, or the other stakeholders in the research process. Self-serving and conservative approaches to biomedical research have left an innovation gap, so many disease communities have unmet therapeutic needs, in particular rare disease populations. I will argue that open science policies can better serve these stakeholders and innovative intellectual policies can help develop a more equitable drug discovery process which benefits those in need, not just shareholders.

11:00 - 12 noon | Dr. Harding's presentation will be followed by a panel discussion on open science with faculty panelists Dr. David Feinberg (Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour) and Dr. Harding and graduate student panelists Aadil Bharwani (MD-PhD candidate, Dept. of Medicine) and Mike Galang (PhD candidate, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour)

Registration not required. Light refreshments will be provided.