Lab Team
Investigator Biography
Benjamin S Wilfond, MD
Benjamin S. Wilfond, MD, is an investigator at the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics and Palliative Care and a pulmonologist at Seattle Children's Hospital. He is a professor in the divisions of Bioethics & Palliative Care and Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities, University of Washington School of Medicine, and a core faculty member of the Institute for Public Health Genetics, University of Washington School of Public Health. Dr. Wilfond co-leads the Institute of Translational Health Sciences bioethics team, with Dr. Kate McDuffie, which is integrated into many of the ITHS programs.
Dr. Wilfond has been at Seattle Children's Research Institute since 2006. He founded and is former division chief of Bioethics and Palliative Care and former director of the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics and Palliative Care, the first such programs in the U.S. In 1998, he founded the National Human Genome Research Institute Intramural Bioethics Core and its IRB. In 2014, he founded the Clinical Research Ethics Consultation Collaborative, a national network to advance research bioethics consultation practice.
Dr. Wilfond is a co-editor of Challenging Cases in Clinical Research Ethics, Taylor and Francis (2024). He is fellow of the Hastings Center and a member of the editorial boards of the Hastings Center Report and Ethics and Human Research. He is a past president of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors and has served on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Bioethics, American Society of Human Genetics Social Issues Committee, American Thoracic Society Bioethics Taskforce, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Standing Committee on Ethics and the FDA Pediatrics Advisory Committee.
Dr. Wilfond attended Muhlenberg College, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, and completed his postgraduate training at the University of Wisconsin. He has held faculty appointments at the University of Arizona, National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University.
Team Members
Treuman Katz Center staff
Katie Porter, JD, MPH, is a research scientist at the Treuman Katz Center and is a co-investigator on the ENVISION Study. She is staff lead for the ITHS bioethics team.
Jennifer Tsing, MA, CCRP, is a project manager at the Treuman Katz Center and the project manager for the ENVISION study and the Trisomy Collaborative.
Devan Duenas, MA, is a research coordinator at the Treuman Katz Center. He is the lead coordinator for the ENVISION study, coordinator for the homeVENT study and coordinator for the ITHS bioethics team.
Abril Beretta, BA, is a research coordinator at the Treuman Katz Center and the coordinator for the ENVISION study.
Seattle Children’s Pulmonary staff
Sharon McNamara, BSN, MN, is the research nurse manager at Seattle Children’s Cystic Fibrosis Program and a co-investigator on the ENVISION study.
Dawnita Munshaw, BA, is an outpatient nurse at Seattle Children’s Pulmonary Clinic and a research nurse on the ENVISION study.
Seattle Children's faculty collaborators
Holly Hoa Vo, MD, MPH, MSc, MA, is a pediatric pulmonologist and bioethics scholar. She is an investigator at the Treuman Katz Center and co-principal investigator of the Seattle site for the HomeVENT Study.
Kate MacDuffie, PhD, MA, is a clinical psychologist and bioethics scholar. She is an investigator at the Treuman Katz Center and co-leads the ITHS bioethics team.
External faculty collaborators
Stephanie Kraft, JD, is a lawyer and bioethics scholar who is a former investigator at the Treuman Katz Center. She is faculty at the Department of Bioethics and Decision Sciences, Geisinger College of Health Sciences and is the co-principal Investigator of the ENVISION study.
Renee Boss, MD, MHS, is a neonatologist, palliative care clinician and bioethics scholar at Johns Hopkins University. She is core faculty at the Berman Institute for Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, and principal investigator of the HomeVENT study.