Less than three months ago, Professor Shamnad Basheer from India had his singular career in IP and social justice cut short at the age of 43 (here and here). One of Shamnad's principal interests was the pharmaceutical industry and how IP, trade and regulatory law impact on the availability of drugs.

Shortly after his death, the Association for Accessible Medicines, in collaboration with the Texas A&M University School of Law, established the Shamnad Basheer IP/Trade Fellowship and invited interested scholars to submit applications.

The selected fellow will work with Professor Srividhya Ragavan of the Texas A&M University School of Law and Jonathan Kimball of the Association for Accessible Medicines to produce a white paper that examines the Special 301 submissions of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The recipient of the fellowship has been announced, Michael Palmedo. Mr. Palmedo is Assistant Director for Interdisciplinary Research at American University, Washington College of Law’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property.

Mr. Palmedo's scholarly interests lie at the intersection of intellectual property law, international trade and economics. In this connection, he has presented on a variety of intellectual property topics to trade negotiators at Free Trade Agreement negotiating rounds and well as publish in a number of IP areas.

IPKat congratulates Mr. Palmedo in being selected and hopes that he will be able to contribute to IPKat at the conclusion of his fellowship to share his findings and conclusions with IPKat readers.

By Neil Wilkof