At the institute.

• Author: Caulfield, Timothy

The HLI is excited to publish this special double edition of the Health Law Review with a focus on "Canadian Governance for Ethical Research Involving Humans." We appreciate the efforts of Dr. Michael McDonald, our guest editor for this edition, in organizing the workshop that led to this publication. Michael's introduction provides a succinct outline of the contents of this Review.

While many health law issues have been in the media over the last several months, nothing seemed to dominate public discourse more than the Terry Schiavo case in the U.S. It received huge coverage at the same time that other important health law reports on crucial topics were relegated to the background. Perhaps this was indicative of the power of the media who were able to focus the public's attention on this human interest story. Regardless, it did highlight the need for further education around advance directives and stimulated useful discussion about whether or not an individual should have one, and if so, just how specific should it be.

The last few months at the Health Law Institute have been extremely busy yet exciting. In addition to the ongoing work on numerous research projects (see our web site for details at www.law.ualberta.ca/centres/hli), much else has been happening as well. In March, we were very fortunate to have Dr. Lawrence Gostin, JD, LLD (Hon.), internationally recognized scholar in public health law and ethics, deliver a rivetting talk entitled "The Future of the Public's Health: Vision, Values and Strategies" for our annual Picard lecture. A professor of law at Georgetown University and professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University, as well as Director of the Center for Law and the Public's Health, he treated the packed lecture hall to an impassioned...