The Jaharis Family Foundation, Inc., is establishing an endowment in the College of Law to support programs in intellectual property and health law. For decades, DePaul alumnus Michael Jaharis and his wife Mary have generously supported students and programs at the college. In recognition of their support, the Health Law Institute will be re-named the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute.CHICAGO — A new endowment at DePaul University College of Law will expand and strengthen scholarly and educational programs in an area where two dynamic legal fields are increasingly intersecting — intellectual property and health law.
The $5 million endowment established by the Jaharis Family Foundation, Inc., will create an endowed directorship for the college’s Health Law Institute; fund a faculty fellowship program for scholars to create and disseminate scholarship and curricula at the intersection of intellectual property and health law; and support a competitive internship program for up to 20 student scholars committed to practicing intellectual property and health law.
DePaul’s intellectual property and health law programs are nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report. The specialty programs are supported by the work of the Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology and the Health Law Institute. As discoveries and innovations in fields such as genomics, nanotechnology and pharmaceuticals have accelerated, intellectual property challenges and issues have created a demand for lawyers with credentials and expertise across these areas.
The endowment will support the addition of curricula and research into interdisciplinary issues such as the law and economics of drug development for impoverished groups of afflicted individuals, and the nexus between patent law, pharmaceutical regulation and cross-border importation.
Michael Jaharis, a graduate of DePaul’s College of Law (’58), is the founder of several pharmaceutical companies. For decades, his wife Mary and he have generously supported students and programs at DePaul University’s College of Law. In recognition of their support, the Health Law Institute will be re-named the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute.
Professor Wendy Netter Epstein recently was appointed the College of Law Jaharis Faculty Fellow. Epstein, who is a faculty leader of DePaul’s Health Law Institute, has worked on curricular advances in these important fields for the College of Law and in partnership with Rush University Medical Center and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
She also has developed a health law colloquium to promote discussion between students and scholars on a range of modern issues in health law. Epstein’s research and scholarship focuses on contracts and health care law, using an interdisciplinary approach to bridge the divide between theory and practice. Her work most recently has appeared or is forthcoming in Cardozo University Law Review, American University Law Review and Case Western Reserve Law Review.
“As advances in medicine are brought to market, the interaction of health law and intellectual property will become more and more important to all of us,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University. “The new endowment will promote academic excellence and leadership in those important and dynamic fields.”
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