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Duke University School of Law Lyme Disease Advocacy Project
LDA Guest Bloggers
Luke Mears is a second-year law student at Duke University School of Law. Luke contracted Lyme disease in the summer of 2020, right at the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic where medical attention was difficult to obtain. After recovering, Luke wanted to become involved in advocating for better legislation and resources around Lyme disease, and as a result co-founded and now co-directs Duke University School of Law’s Lyme Disease Advocacy Project. The project focuses on answering legislative and legal questions that the Lyme Disease Association has to allow the organization to better advocate and lobby for Lyme disease resources.
Madison Pinckney is a second-year law student at Duke University School of Law. Madison contracted Lyme and other tick-borne diseases when she was nine years old but wasn’t diagnosed until she was 19. While working to heal from the long-term effects of delayed diagnosis, Madison decided to attend law school to make tangible change in the Lyme and chronic illness communities. At Duke, she co-founded and co-directs the Lyme Disease Advocacy Project, answering the Lyme Disease Association’s legislative and legal questions to help it better advocate and lobby for change in the treatment of Lyme disease.
Duke University School of Law Lyme Disease Advocacy Project
The ability to use the skills we are gaining in law school to improve a cause we care so much about has been an incredibly rewarding experience. We formed the Lyme Disease Advocacy Project in February of 2022 after our experiences contracting and combating Lyme disease. Our hope for the project was multifaceted. We sought to provide legal research and writing for the Lyme Disease Association, Inc. (LDA) hoping to answer legal questions as they lobbied for increased resources and better treatment for Lyme disease. Beyond that, we sought to provide students an opportunity to learn more about the disease, learn about the stigma and obstacles that those who contracted it face, and give students an opportunity to gain experience in advocating and legislating.
The project gained formal recognition in the summer of 2022. Before that, the Lyme Disease Advocacy Project ran as an independent pro bono project for the spring 2022 semester. Duke University was fully supportive of transforming the project into a formal pro bono group. In the spring semester, with a late start and only becoming a project in February, we were able to have ten student volunteers working on different projects surrounding legal issues and questions about Lyme disease. It felt great to know that these students were not only given an opportunity to assist the Lyme Disease Association answer important questions, but also that all of these students were able to learn more about the disease.
After the success of the project in spring of 2022 and becoming a formal pro bono group in the summer of 2022, the project is excited to continue to work with the Lyme Disease Association and make tangible contributions to advocating for improving the lives of Lyme patients. The project will continue to work on legal research for the association, answering important questions that will allow it to better advocate and lobby for change. Not only that, but the project is hoping to branch out as an educational resource as well, providing student volunteers with the opportunity to learn more about the disease while also hosting other events and speakers at the law school to discuss the problems that exist surrounding Lyme disease.
There are always a few odd looks when the name of the group is said. Is that not a super specific issue to have a whole project focused on? Is there that much interest in Lyme disease? How much legal work could really be done for Lyme disease? Those who get involved in the project get their questions answered very quickly as they learn more about the disease. More than anything, it has been an incredibly satisfying feeling to be able to contribute to an issue that has affected both of us. You don’t need a medical degree to help the Lyme disease community- everyone has something to contribute.
Read LDA President’s Blog – LDA & Duke U. Law Students Join Forces to Educate on Lyme