ABOUT

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is an international student organization with the vision that universities and publicly funded research institutions such as Western should be a part of the solution to the access to medicines crisis. In other words, we work to promote medical innovations in the public interest and advocate for university policies that do not stand in the way of access to essential medicines and other health-related technologies developed in our university’s labs. 

As a non-profit organization rooted in a global movement of university students, UAEM aims to promote affordable access to life-saving medicines and medical innovations in low and middle-income countries by changing the norms and practices around university academic patenting and licensing. We empower students to respond and advocate for the access and innovation crises, and we ensure that university medical research meets people's needs worldwide. 

As students who passionately believe in social justice and health equity, we believe that it is unacceptable that millions of people are disproportionately being denied access to life-saving medical technologies that are readily available in developed nations. We strongly believe that universities such as Western have a social contract with society. As educational and research institutions, they have the responsibility to promote and manage the deployment of innovations for the public benefit. 

Our work is guided at all times by principles of non-partisanship, democracy, transparency, and respect.