Ben Wilfond, MD

Ben Wilfond is Director of the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Professor and Chief of the Division of Bioethics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. He is also Adjunct Professor in the UW Department of Bioethics and Humanities. 

Dr. Wilfond is an attending physician in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Seattle Children’s. He is the Co-Director of the Regulatory Support and Bioethics Core for the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) and coordinates the ITHS Research Bioethics Consult Service.  

He received his MD from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School in 1985. He completed his pediatric residency and his fellowship in pediatric pulmonology and medical ethics at the University of Wisconsin. Prior to moving to Seattle in 2006, has held faculty positions at the Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona; Social and Behavioral Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute; and the Department of Bioethics, NIH Clinical Center, and an adjunct appointment at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. 

His scholarship focuses on ethical and policy issues related to genetic testing, genetic research and pediatrics research. He has recently worked on issues related to newborn screening, disclosure of genetic research results, pediatric biobanks, and disabilities. He is a member of the Ethics Subcommittee of the FDA Pediatric Advisory Committee, the National Children's Study Federal Advisory Committee, and the March of Dimes Bioethics Advisory Committee.