Join the Duke Forum for Law and Social Change for its annual symposium! The topic for this year's symposium is “America’s Obesity Problem: Legal Mechanisms for Prevention.” This is an opportunity for professionals and students interested in the subject of obesity prevention to come together and discuss legal mechanisms that can be used to address this issue. The symposium will also provide an opportunity for professionals looking to tackle this issue in the local community to participate in the panels and ideally implement some of the ideas and suggestions that will come out of the discussions. The event is co-sponsored by the Duke Health Law Society, Duke Law Federalist Society, and Baker Botts LLP. 

The symposium will be held from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on February, 22 at Duke University's Law School in Room 3043. To register please visit http://dflsc.law.duke.edu/symposium/. For more information, please contact dflsc@law.duke.edu or seth.bloomfield@duke.edu. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. An agenda for the day follows:

8:30 am Breakfast

9:00 am Introduction

National Reforms

9:15 am James Hodge & Dan Orenstein: New Frontiers in Obesity Control: Innovative Public Health Legal Interventions

9:55 am Jennifer Pomeranz: Legal strategies to address America’s processed food problem: from public health prevention to state and local preemption 

10:35 am Break

10:50 am Panel 1: National Reforms 

12:00 pm Lunch

Regional Reforms

1:30 pm Heather Wooten: Zoning and Licensing to Regulate the Retail Environment and Achieve Public Health Goals 

2:10 pm Rachelle Ramirez (Student Note): Pass the Change, Please: Stymieing America’s Childhood Health Crisis with Local Foods in Schools 

2:50 pm Break

3:05 pm Lindsay Wiley: “No Body Left Behind”: Re-orienting School-Based Childhood Obesity Interventions

3:45 pm Panel 2: School-based Initiatives 

4:15 pm Panel 3: Regional Regulation 

4:45 pm Concluding Remarks