Professor Cheryl Erwin

Visiting Professor of Law, 2011

Admitted to practice law in all courts of the state of Texas

Cheryl Erwin is a Visiting Professor at the Texas Tech University Law School, spring semester 2011. Professor (Dr.) Erwin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the John P. McGovern, MD, Center for Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston (UT Health), and is an Associate Member of the Graduate faculty at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UT Health . She holds an appointment in the Department of Family Medicine at UT Health and is the Director of the Medical Humanities and Ethics Certificate Program, professor of Medical Jurisprudence, co-chair of the Ethics and Advocacy core of the Center for Clinical and Translational Studies at UT Health.

Professor Erwin graduated from the University of Houston Law Center in 1999 where she was the research editor for the Health Law and Policy Institute, a Dean’s Merit Scholar and was awarded the Prudential Life Award for Excellence in Health Law in 1998. She was awarded a doctorate in Medical Humanities in 2002 from UTMB. She completed a degree in Biology at the University of Houston and completed a thesis in molecular genetics at MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1994. She worked in patent prosecution for the intellectual property firm of R. Perry McConnell in The Woodlands, Texas from 2001 to 2002.

Prior to joining the faculty at UT Health in 2006 she held appointments as Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, University of Iowa College of Law (secondary appointment), and University of Iowa College of Public Health (secondary appointment). She has taught and supervised the research of students in law, medicine and public health. She holds appointments as a reviewer for the Journal of Genetic Counseling, Open Medicine, and has served as reviewer for the NIH, the Association of Bioethics and Humanities, and the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Her research into genetic discrimination and knowledge of legal issues was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute from 2005 – 2008. The international I-RESPOND-HD study was conducted in the United States, Canada, and Australia. She currently serves as the chair of the Ethics Core of the international PREDICT-HD study focused on the cognitive predictors of the onset of Huntington Disease. She is a member of the national Event Monitoring Committee for the Huntington Study Group. The I-RESPOND-HD study of genetic discrimination is currently being adapted for use with multiple genetic conditions in Europe.

She serves on the admission committee of the Medical School at UT Health and is a member of the Institutional Ethics Committee at Memorial Hermann Hospital, Houston. She has advised the institutions of the Texas Medical Center concerning legal issues including conflicts of interest, privacy and HIPAA requirements, and institutional review board issues.

Degrees

B.S. University of Houston, 1994

J.D. University of Houston Law Center, 1999

PhD University of Texas Medical Branch, 2002

Courses

Healthcare Transactions and Finance, Contemporary Issues in Healthcare

Professor Erwin speaks and publishes frequently on the topics of research law and ethics, bioethics, law and science, Huntington disease neuroscience, and medical humanities.

Recent Publications

Erwin, C., Williams, J.K., Juhl, A.R., Juhl, A.R., Mengeling, M., Mills, J.A., Bombard, Y., Hayden, M.R., Kayson, E., Shoulson, I., Quaid, K., Taylor, S., Paulsen, J.S., and the Investigators of the Huntington Study Group. Perception, Experience and Response to Genetic Discrimination in Huntington disease: The International RESPOND-HD study. American Journal of Medical Genetics: Part B Neuropsychiatry Genetics March 31, 2010. PMID: 20468061

Williams, J.K., Erwin, C., Juhl, A.R., Juhl, A.R., Mengeling, M., Mills, J.A., Bombard, Y., Hayden, M.R., Kayson, E., Shoulson, I., Quaid, K., Taylor, S., Paulsen, J.S., and the Investigators of the Huntington Study Group. In their own words: Experiences of genetic discrimination by people at-risk for Huntington disease in the RESPOND-HD study. American Journal of Medical Genetics: Part B Neuropsychiatry Genetics April 5, 2010 PMID: 20468062

Williams, J., Erwin, C., Juhl, A., Mills, J., Brossman, B., Paulsen, J.S. Personal Factors Associated with Reported Benefits of HD Genetic Testing or Family History. Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, in press.

Erwin, C. Policy and Politics Behind the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008, American Journal of Nursing, 2009 Dec; 109(12): 45-46. PMID: 19935172

Erwin, C. Legal Update: Living with the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, Genetics in Medicine, 2008 Dec; 10(12): 869-873 PMID: 19092438

Erwin, C and Hersch, S for the Event Monitoring Committee of the Huntington Study Group "Monitoring reportable events and unanticipated problems: the PHAROS and PREDICT studies of Huntington’s disease" IRB: Ethics and Human Research 29, no. 3 (2007): 11-16. PMID: 17847637

Erwin, C. and Philibert, R. "Shocking Treatment: The use of Tasers in psychiatric clinics" Journal of Law Medicine and Ethics, 2006 Vol 34 No. 1: 116-120

Erwin, C. Utopian Dreams and Harsh Realities: Who is in control of assisted reproductive technologies? Journal of Gender Race and Justice, Spring, 2006 Vol 10, No. 1: 621-635.

Recent Presentations

Informed Consent in a Public Health Context. The Law and Public Health Preparedness Continuing Legal Education. UT Health School of Public Health. Houston, Texas. June 25, 2010

Implications of PREDICT-HD for clinical geneticists. American Society of Medical Genetics Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM March, 2010

The Incidence of Genetic Discrimination, Worry, Knowledge of Legal Protections and Consumer Insurance Buying Behaviors in Persons at Risk for Huntington Disease: The I-Respond-HD Study. American Society for Law, Medicine and Ethics, Health Law Teachers’ Conference. Austin, Texas. June, 2010.

Houston Bar Association, Health Law Section. Continuing Legal Education: Integrity: causes and cure. Houston, Texas. May 14, 2008

Ethics of Science, The University of Texas at Austin, Graduate Program in Molecular Biology and Nanotechnology. Austin, Texas. January 12-13, 2005

"Creating Life?: Examining the Legal, Ethical and Medical Issues of Assisted Reproductive Technologies", University of Iowa College of Law, The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, Iowa City, Iowa. October 8, 2004

"Expert Witnesses: Science in the Courtroom" Science in Society Lecture, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. November 22, 2003

"The Ethics of Scientific Research" Society of Research Administrators, Texas Chapter. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. March 15, 2002

"Thinking Globally About Biotech Ethics" Practicing Law Institute Biotechnology Law Program, New York, New York. August, 2002