The COVID-19 pandemic served as a powerful wake-up call, highlighting our collective need for the effective development and equitable distribution of new vaccines, in addition to widespread administration of existing ones. The current models of production and allocation of vaccines against emerging pathogens, which rely on predominantly market-driven mechanisms, are largely at odds with public health needs. This book is the first to explore the entire arc of vaccine development and distribution, from the decisions about allocation of vaccine R&D money to allocation and administration of vaccines resulting from the R&D process. It explains key concepts and problems in vaccine regulation, intellectual property, technology transfer and international relations, making complex material accessible to a non-specialist audience. Analyzing the impact of COVID-19, the book also covers several other vaccine races, as well as future directions in vaccine development and allocation.

Her work has been recognized by numerous institutions, including the American Society of Law Medicine & Ethics, which named her a Health Law Scholar in 2018 and Bio Intellectual Property Scholar in 2017. In 2018, she also was named a Wiet Life Sciences Law Scholar by the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago. In 2022, the Boston Congress of Public Health selected her as one of the inaugural recipients of a 40 Under 40 Public Health Catalyst Award for her work on vaccine law and policy. 

Professor Rutschman’s book, Vaccines as Technology: Innovation, Barriers and the Public Health, was published in 2022 by Cambridge University Press. Her legal scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in UCLA Law Review, Emory Law Journal, Arizona Law Review, Yale Law Journal Forum, Harvard Public Health Review and Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, among several others. Her peer-reviewed work has appeared in Nature Biotechnology, Vaccine, Emerging Infectious Diseases and American Journal of Infection Control, among others. Her commentary pieces have been published by Health Affairs Blog, Bill of Health, Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, the Huffington Post and The Conversation, and republished in Scientific American, Newsweek Japan and numerous U.S. newspapers.

Before joining Villanova Law, Professor Rutschman taught in the health law program at Saint Louis University School of Law and served as the inaugural Jaharis Fellow in Health Law and Intellectual Property at DePaul College of Law in Chicago. She also has consulted for the World Health Organization on matters related to the development of drugs and vaccines against COVID-19, Zika and Ebola.

Please register by February 22, 2023. The event will be presented in person and online. There is a room cap of 77 in-person attendees, and online participants will receive a link to view the presentation just ahead of the event.

No proof of vaccination is required of in-person guests and masks are optional.  However, DePaul is a mask-friendly university, and wearing a mask is highly recommended for all indoor spaces. These rules are subject to change in accordance with public health guidance. 

DePaul College of Law is an accredited MCLE provider. This event is eligible for up to 1 CLE credit hour.