On Oct. 18, 2022, Tahir Amin delivered the inaugural Sawyer Seminar talk on “Intellectual Property Wars: The Battle for Access to Medicines” at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Downtown Santa Cruz. Amin, LL.B., Dip. LP., is a founder and executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), a nonprofit organization working to address structural inequities in how medicines are developed and distributed.

Associate Professor of History Jennifer Derr introduced the Sawyer Seminar “Race, Empire, and the Environments of Biomedicine” and the speakers. Tahir Amin then delivered his presentation, “Intellectual Property Wars.”

After Amin’s presentation, Amin and ProPublica journalist Anna Barry-Jester engaged in a lively discussion. Community members and UC Santa Cruz faculty and students then asked Amin provocative questions about medical inequalities and intellectual property.

Check out a video recording and photos from our thought-provoking inaugural event!