Access to Drugs Initiative (ADI) (Toronto)

This summer, I have had the exciting opportunity to work with the Access to Drugs Initiative (ADI) in Toronto. Part of our faculty's International Human Rights Program, ADI aims to analyze existing methods of delivering low-cost pharmaceuticals to states and people in need and to develop new strategies to improve developing countries' access to essential medicines. In the past, this has involved proposing legislative amendmentsto the government of Ghana that take full advantage of compulsory licensing flexibilities in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).

My role has been to explore how ADI may expand the work it did in Ghana into other country formats. I have written reports and analyses on legislative responses to AIDS, African patent law, regional trade agreements in Africa, and ADI's future work. The research bent of this internship has been a perfect way for me to wade into completely new and interesting areas of law, from WTO law to the public procurement of drugs, from non-discrimination legislation to comparative constitutional law. The International AIDS Conference happening at the end of August will round off the summer nicely; there I will have some opportunities to attend sessions and discuss many of the issues I have been researching throughout the summer with like-minded advocates and academics from all around the world. I am definitely looking forward to it.