Disclosures: Nothing to disclose - 05/27/2025
Chris Feudtner, MD, PhD, MPH

Chief, Division of General Pediatrics

David Cornfeld Endowed Chair in Pediatrics

Physician and Research Director, PACT & Complex Care

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Professor of Pediatrics, Medical Ethics and Health Policy

Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Division of General Pediatrics

The Hub for Clinical Collaboration, 15th Floor

3500 Civic Center Boulevard

Philadelphia, PA 19104

Education and professional experience

1985	BA, Princeton University (Molecular Biology)
1987	MA, Lancaster University, England (History of Science)
1995	MD, University of Pennsylvania (Medicine)
1995	PhD, University of Pennsylvania (History and Sociology of Science)
2000	MPH, University of Washington (Health Services)

1995-98	Pediatric Residency, University of Washington
1998-00	Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, University of Washington

2000	Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington
2002	Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania
2010	Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania
2014	Professor of Pediatrics, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, U Pennsylvania

2008-22	Director, Department of Medical Ethics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
2008-24	Stephen D. Handler Endowed Chair of Medical Ethics
2010-19	Fellowship Director, Academic General Pediatrics
2015-21	Associate Chief, Division of General Pediatrics
2020-24	Chair, Healthcare Ethics Consultant Certification Commission
2021-	MPI, Pediatric Hospital Epidemiology and Outcomes Training (PHEOT)
2021- 2024-	Chief, Division of General Pediatrics David Cornfeld Endowed Chair in Pediatrics

Short biography

Chris Feudtner, MD PhD MPH, is a pediatrician, clinical investigator, and ethicist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Professor of Pediatrics, Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, who focuses on improving the lives of children with complex chronic conditions and their families. He is an attending physician and Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at CHOP and the David Cornfeld Endowed Chair in Pediatrics. He is the founder of the Department of Medical Ethics at CHOP, inaugural holder of the Steven D. Handler Endowed Chair of Medical Ethics, Leader of EthicsLab@CHOP Research Affinity Group, and director of research for the Pediatric Advance Care Team (which provides palliative care) and the Complex Care Service. He is currently the chair of the national Healthcare Ethics Consultation Certification Commission. He has published over 400 articles regarding pediatric palliative care, epidemiology, health service use and quality, child outcomes, and medical ethics, with funding from the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine, and several generous private foundations. His work has been featured by National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, and CCN Anderson Cooper. In the realm of pediatric palliative care, Chris is board-certified in hospice and palliative care medicine, and is one of the leading researchers, educators, and leaders of the field. As a historian of medicine, Chris authored a book on the history of diabetes in America, entitled Bittersweet: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness (2003) and Light and Shadow: A Novel of Pediatric Internship (2021). In the field of medical ethics, Chris has worked on understanding medical student and resident ethical development, examined the ways that emotions and cognitive heuristics shape medical decision-making, and on the interface of ethics and public health policy regarding immunizations and the care of children with complex chronic conditions, including when needed palliative and hospice care. Chris’s clinical, teaching, mentoring, and research accomplishments have been recognized by the Stanley Stamm Role Model in Medicine Award (given by the residents in the pediatric training program at the University of Washington in 2000), The Class of 1990 David Cornfeld Bedside Teaching Award (given by the residents of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 2005), The Leonard Tow Humanism Award (given by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2011), the Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Research Award (given by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2011), the CHOP Mentor Award (given by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 2012), the Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award (2014), the American Academy of Pediatrics’ William G. Bartholome Award for Ethical Excellence (2017), appointment as a Hastings Center Fellow (2014), the Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in Palliative Care from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (2019), and the Norman J. Siegel New Member Outstanding Science Award from the American Pediatric Society (2023). He lives outside of Philadelphia with his wife (a family physician), three children (two now off at college), and an eager morning-run canine companion, Rita.

Even shorter (and preferred) biography

Chris Feudtner is a pediatrician, clinical investigator, and ethicist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania who focuses on improving the lives of children with complex chronic conditions and their families. He is Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at CHOP. Over the years, he has conducted a wide variety of research projects and been involved in developing clinical programs while also taking care of complex pediatric patients, including providing palliative care, as well as providing clinical ethics consultations. He lives outside of Philadelphia with his wife (a family physician), three children (two now off at college), and an eager morning-run canine companion, Rita.