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Contents

• About the Division
• Consultation
• Research Programs
• Training Programs
• Educational Programs
• Leadership and History
• Related Links
• Contact List

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About the Division

The Bioethics program encompasses the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, which is supported by Seattle Children's Hospital and the Division of Bioethics within the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Our mission is to enhance bioethical deliberations in the pediatric health care and research communities to improve the lives of children and their families. We:

1. Provide consultation and education for families, health-care providers, researchers and policymakers.
2. Conduct research on ethical issues related to pediatric health care and clinical research.
3. Train the next generation of clinicians and bioethicists about pediatric bioethics.

Our program is developing partnerships with the Department of Bioethics & Humanities at the University of Washington's School of Medicine, as well as the schools of Law, Nursing, and Public Health and Community Medicine to accomplish our mission.

For more information about the Division of Bioethics at the University of Washington or the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics please contact our administrative office at (206) 884-8355.

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Consultation

The Bioethics Consultation Service provides consultations for families, clinicians, researchers and policy makers. Our advice is grounded in analytical reasoning and supported by knowledge of laws, regulations and empirical data. We emphasize communication, mediation and practical problem solving. The Seattle Children's Hospital Ethics Committee oversees the Bioethics Consultation Service.

Clinical Bioethics Consultations are available for ethical issues related to patient care or clinical policies at Seattle Children's Hospital. The Seattle Children's Hospital Ethics Committee provides oversight for this service. Clinical consultations can be obtained by calling the paging operator at (206) 987-2000.

Research Bioethics Consultations are available to advise families, research staff and investigators who have questions about designing or conducting clinical research. We also advise the Institutional Review Board (IRB) who regulate human subjects research. The consultations are provided as part of the Regulatory Support and Bioethics (RSB) core of the Institute for Translational Health Sciences. Research consultations can be obtained by calling the paging operator at (206) 987-2000 or the RSB Core office at (206) 598-6477 or rsbcore@u.washington.edu.

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Research Programs

Bioethics scholarship draws on the work of many disciplines including anthropology, economics, history, law, literature, medicine, nursing, philosophy, psychology, sociology and theology. It uses conceptual and empirical social science approaches to evaluate the reasons and arguments used in making moral judgments.

Our goal is to address these issues with methodological rigor rather than to advocate for a particular moral or political position. Bioethics can inform regulations and policies at institutional, state and national levels but most bioethicists are not policy makers.

Current projects include:

Research recruitment
How much influence is appropriate for researchers to assert when enrolling families in research studies?

Disabilities
How should we promote the interests of children with profound cognitive disabilities and their families?

Genetic testing in children
As the number of potential genetic tests expands what criteria should be used to decide the tests that children receive?

Pediatric biobanks
Should a child's research data and samples be destroyed after the child turns 18 and is not reachable to give consent?

Global health
How should we promote the participation of adolescents who live in resource poor settings in health related decision-making, particularly in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic?

Continuous ethics improvement
How do we measure — and what interventions can improve — ethics quality in an institutional setting?

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Training Programs

We are committed to training clinicians for academic careers in bioethics to ensure that the next generation of scholars, teachers and consultants are able engage in pediatric bioethics issues and to encourage medical students and residents to consider careers in bioethics.

The Pediatric Bioethics Fellowship Program is for clinicians who are interested in academic careers that emphasize scholarship in bioethics. This fellowship can be combined with subspecialty training. Fellows will conduct an independent research project, participate in clinical consultations, and may also obtain a master's degree.

The Bioethics Fellowship is a two-year program (with an option for an additional year) that trains individuals in bioethics with an emphasis on pediatric issues. The goal of the fellowship is to prepare individuals for academic careers with an emphasis on scholarship in pediatric bioethics.

The fellowship is open to physicians in any specialty, as well as other doctorally-prepared individuals (JD, PhD) who intend to engage in pediatric clinical care and/or research for their careers. The program includes an educational curriculum and provides training and experiences in research scholarship, teaching, and bioethics consultations. Fellows who do not have prior advanced training in empirical research methodology (i.e. MS, MPH or PhD) will be encouraged to enroll in the master's program in bioethics, public health or a similar master's program at the University of Washington. Tuition will be provided. For more information, please see the Center's website at:
http://bioethics.seattlechildrens.org/education/clinical_bioethics_fellowship.asp.

Interested candidates should submit an application online and mail a curriculum vitae, a personal statement about career and research interests, a writing sample and three letters of reference (submitted directly).

For individuals currently enrolled in clinical fellowships at Seattle Children's or the University of Washington, we offer the opportunity to explore creative ways to combine the primary clinical fellowship with components of our bioethics fellowship. These requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  For more information, please contact Dr. Diekema at the address shown below.

The application deadline is November 15, 2009 for the Fellowship beginning July 2010.

Applications should be sent to:

Douglas S. Diekema, MD, MPH
Director of Education
Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics
MPW 8-2, Suite 800
1100 Olive Way
Seattle, WA 98101

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Pediatric Bioethics Seminars are held each Thursday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. downtown at Metropolitan Park West (1100 Olive Way), Room 871 and are open to Seattle Children's and UW faculty, staff and students.

Seminars include invited guest speakers, works in progress, journal club and book discussions. For guest speakers the location may change to accommodate larger groups.

For a current list of upcoming seminars, please visit the following website. http://bioethics.seattlechildrens.org/events/seminars.asp

Please contact our administrative office at (206) 884-8355 or bioethics@seattlechildrens.org, to be placed on our mailing list. Directions to Metropolitan Park are also available upon request.

Medical Student/Resident Bioethics Immersion: Medical students and residents can do elective rotations that may include work on a research project and participation in clinical consults and educational activities.

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Educational Programs

We are committed to engaging students and health-care professionals in reasoning and problem solving that draws heavily on the knowledge base of ethics-related disciplines. We reject both the absolutist view that there is only one 'right' answer and the relativistic view that all answers are as 'good' as any others.

Clinical Pediatric Bioethics Education and Outreach
Includes ongoing educational programs for medical students, residents and fellows. We also offer lectures and case-based discussion for pediatric bioethics issues to providers throughout the WWAMI region that includes Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

Web-Based Teaching Guides
To increase our impact, we have developed pediatric bioethics Web-based educational modules that will include a series of case-based teaching modules. Four modules are available online.

Grand Rounds
Each year the Center for Pediatric Bioethics sponsors three to four case-based presentations at Grand Rounds on pediatrics ethical issues.

Pediatric Bioethics Conference
The annual Pediatric Bioethics Conference is the capstone of our educational program. It provides continuing education for individuals in the Seattle community, the Pacific Northwest and throughout the nation. We create a forum for invited guest faculty and participants to have meaningful discussions about complex and controversial issues.

Predicting Our Future: Genetic Testing in Children and Their Families was the topic for the 2008 conference that was held on July 25 and 26th in Seattle.

Past conferences can be accessed here.

Reading List
Recommended reading to learn about pediatric bioethics.

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Leadership and History

The Center for Pediatric Bioethics began in 2005 under the leadership of Doug Diekema, MD, MPH. Diekema has been a faculty member of the Department of Pediatrics since 1993. Diekema is a pediatric emergency medicine physician and also chairs Seattle Children's Institutional Review Board. He served as the center's interim director from 2004-2006. He is currently the center's educational director, and leads the Pediatric Bioethics Fellowship Program.

In 2005, Seattle Children's Hospital's Board of Trustees endowed the center and renamed it to honor retiring CEO Treuman Katz for his interest in pediatric bioethics.

In August 2006, Benjamin S. Wilfond, MD joined the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics as director and established the Division of Bioethics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

In August, 2007, Maureen Kelley, PhD joined the Division. She trained in Philosophy and Bioethics at Rice University and Baylor School of Medicine, and was most recently on the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In July 2008, Holly Tabor, PhD joined the Division. She trained in Genetic Epidemiology and Bioethics at Stanford.

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Related Links

• Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics

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Contact List

Name	Title	Email
Wilfond, Benjamin MD	Professor and Division Head Director, Treuman Katz Center For Pediatric Bioethics	bwilfond@u.washington.edu
Diekema, Doug MD, MPH	Professor Educational Director, Treuman Katz Center For Pediatric Bioethics	diek@u.washington.edu
Hays, Ross, MD	Adjunct Professor Professor, Rehabilitation & Pediatrics	ross.hays@seattlechildrens.org
Kelley, Maureen, PhD	Assistant Professor	mkelley@u.washington.edu
Mastroianni, Anna JD, MPH	Adjunct Associate Professor Associate Professor School of Law	amastroi@u.washington.edu
Opel, Douglas MD	Acting Instructor and Senior Fellow	djopel@u.washington.edu
Tabor, Holly, PhD	Assistant Professor	hktabor@u.washington.edu
Woodrum, David MD	Professor Clinical Director, Treuman Katz Center For Pediatric Bioethics	woodrum@u.washington.edu
Fennell, Kathy RN, MPH, MBA	Administrative Director	kathy.fennell@seattlechildrens.org
Carpenter, Kaiti	Research Assistant	kaiti.carpenter@seattlechildrens.org
Newcom, Carolyn	Program Assistant	carolyn.newcom@seattlechildrens.org

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