Published: Feb. 11, 2008

The University of Colorado at Boulder will host a symposium Feb. 14-15 to discuss the ethical, legal and human rights concerns raised in a recent report by the Institute of Medicine proposing that prisoners and vulnerable human subjects once again be considered an acceptable medical research population.

The symposium, to be held in Old Main Chapel, is free and open to the public. The interdisciplinary discussion will feature activists, community members and scholars.

The event will begin with a plenary lecture by George Annas of the School of Public Health at Boston University at 4 p.m. on Feb. 14. The symposium is sponsored by CU-Boulder's Law School, the Center for Values and Social Policy in the philosophy department and the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Denver.

Other speakers include Jeffrey Metzner, of UCD and co-author of the Institute of Medicine report; Vanessa Northington Gamble, George Washington University; Steve Miles, University of Minnesota Medical School; Jamie Fellner, Human Rights Program, Human Rights Watch; Vera Hassner Sharav, Alliance for Human Research Protection; Eric Chwang, CU; Dorothy Roberts, Northwestern University School of Law; Harriet Washington, author of "Medical Apartheid;" and Leodus Jones, formerly incarcerated and the subject of medical experimentation and an independent reviewer of the Institute of Medicine report.

For more information on the symposium go to .