Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and author of Bleeding the Patient: The Consequences of Corporate Health Care is coming to the seminar to discuss medical debt and the costs of health care. View Video of Dr. Woolhandler's presentation "Costs of Care: Directions in Health Care Reform."
Robert Lawless, the Galowich-Huzienga Faculty Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law, is an expert on small business bankruptcies. His work has appeared in the New York Times and CNN. His current research is on entrepreneurs and financial distress.
Deborah Thorne, Associate Professor of Sociology specializes in consumerism, debt, social inequality and gender. Recently she appeared on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight. She is particularly interested in how couples and families with children cope with financial hardship.
Katherine M. Porter, is directing the Borrowing to the Brink seminar and is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Iowa. She frequently testifies before the House and Senate. Her work on home ownership was featured in a front-page NY Times story. Her seminar paper is on student loan debt.
Dov Cohen, cultural psychologist from the University of Illinois is an expert on honor and stigma in society. His research examines ideas of shame in bankruptcy and the experiences of different racial groups in choosing to file bankruptcy.
Marianne B. Culhane, Professor of Law, Creighton University, has had her research hotly debated in Congress during the bankruptcy reform. Her project studies how families use bankruptcy to try to save their homes.
Kevin T. Leicht, sociology professor at the University of Iowa has recently authored Postindustrial Peasants: The Illusion of Middle Class Prosperity. His seminar work looks at how consumers have used credit as a crutch to make up for the lack of income growth in recent decades.
Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor, Harvard Law School and chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee TARP bailout fund. She has authored the best-selling books, All Your Worth: the Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, and The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke. She is the nation's leading expert on the demographics of bankruptcy debtors.
Ronald Mann, Professor of Law at Columbia University, is the foremost legal scholar of credit cards in America. He is the author of the acclaimed book, Charging Ahead: The Growth of Payment Card Markets. With Katherine Porter, he is currently writing about how families decide to file bankruptcy. His seminar paper looks at how different age groups accumulate credit card debt.
Jerry Anthony, Associate Professor, at the Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning, The University of Iowa.His scholarship focuses on housing policy, land use, smart growth and international planning issues. His paper is entitled “A Critical Look at Housing Cost Burden Ratios: Do They Lead, Mislead or are Irrelevant?”
Brian K. Bucks, an Economist with The Federal Reserve Board will make a presentation on Survey of Consumer Finance and his paper "Wealth and Financial Well-being among Bankrupt and Non-Bankrupt Households"
Angela K. Littwin, from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law will address "Pro Se Debtors in Bankruptcy" at the seminar. Her most recent article in the Texas Law Review is on usury and credit card use among low-income consumers.