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Contents

• About the Division
• Consultation
• Research Programs
• Training Programs
• Educational Programs
• Related Links
• Faculty Contact List

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About the Division

Established in 2005, 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 improve the lives of children and their families by enhancing bioethical deliberations in pediatric health care and clinical research. 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 has 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.

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 consultation for families, clinicians, researchers and policy makers. Our advice is grounded in analytical reasoning and supported by knowledge of the law, policy 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), which regulates human subjects research. 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 philosophy, law, and social and behavioral sciences. 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.

Key topics and related questions include:

Clinical Bioethics
How should doctors respond to parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children?

Research Bioethics
How should we include children who are wards of the state in research studies?

Global Health
How should we address ethical and social justice challenges related to global prevention of prematurity and stillbirth?

Genetics
How can we improve parent and child understanding about participating in genetic research and biobanks?

Bioethics Education
How can we best teach healthcare providers about ethical issues?

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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 Wednesday 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 research projects 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 using a variety of educational strategies. Education is fundamental to keeping an open mind in examining ethical issues and putting them into perspective. Our interactive programs reach a wide range of audiences. We sponsor weekly seminars and quarterly Grand Rounds, and we host an annual national pediatric bioethics conference. Case-based instructional materials are available on our Web site.

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 sponsors three case-based presentations at Grand Rounds at Seattle Children's.

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.

Tiny Babies, Big Questions: Ethical Controversies in Perinatology & Neonatology will be held on July 23 and 24 in Seattle.

Past conferences can be accessed here.

Reading List
Recommended reading about pediatric bioethics.

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Faculty 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 Education Director, Treuman Katz Center For Pediatric Bioethics	diek@u.washington.edu
Hays, Ross, MD	Adjunct Professor Professor, Rehabilitation & Pediatrics	ross.hays@seattlechildrens.org
Jackson, Doug, DMD, MS, PhD	Affiliate Clinical Associate Professor	doug.jackson@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 Assistant Professor	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

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