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Institute for Bioethics logo
Douglas B. White

Douglas B. White, MD, MAS

Director

Professional Statement

Dr. White graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1995 with a degree in English Literature. He received his MD from UCSF in 1999 and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UCSF. While at UCSF, he also completed a Master’s degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a fellowship in Bioethics under Bernard Lo. He joined the faculty at UCSF in 2005 as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and a Core Faculty of the Program on Medical Ethics. In 2009 he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in the Departments of Critical Care Medicine and Medicine as an Associate Professor.

Dr. White directs the University of Pittsburgh Program on Ethics and Decision Making in Critical Illness. His research program encompasses both empirical research on and normative ethical analysis of surrogate decision making for patients with life-threatening illness. He has several ongoing NIH-funded studies.

In 2025, he was appointed as the inaugural director of the new University of Pittsburgh Institute for Bioethics.

Appointments

  • Director, Institute for Bioethics Schools of the Health Sciences
  • Associate Dean for Bioethics and Humanism in Medicine School of Medicine
  • UPMC Endowed Chair for Ethics in Critical Care Medicine School of Medicine
  • Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Medicine, and Clinical Translational Science School of Medicine

Education and Training

  • Clinical Ethics Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco, 2007
  • MAS, University of California, San Francisco, 2006
  • Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco, 2005
  • Internal Medicine Residency, University of California, San Francisco, 2002
  • MD, University of California, San Francisco, 1999
  • AB, English Literature, Dartmouth College, 1995

Professional Interests in Bioethics

Representative Publications

  1. White DB, Wicclair M. Navigating Clinicians’ Conscience-Based Refusals to Provide Lawful Medical Care. N Engl J Med. 2024 Oct 24;391(16):1465-1467.

  2. McCreary, E. K., Essien, U. R., Chang, C. -C. H., Butler, R. A., Pathak, P., Sönmez, T., Angus, D. C., White, D. B. Weighted Lottery to Equitably Allocate Scarce Supply of COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody. JAMA Health Forum, 2023 Sep 1;4(9):e232774. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.2774. PMID: 37656472.

  3. White DB, Lo B. Mitigating Inequities and Saving Lives with ICU Triage during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Feb 1;203(3):287-295. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202010-3809CP.

  4. White DB, Angus DC, Shields AM, Buddadhumaruk P, Pidro C, Paner C, Chaitin E, Chang CC, Pike F, Weissfeld L, Kahn JM, Darby JM, Kowinsky A, Martin S, Arnold RM; PARTNER Investigators. A Randomized Trial of a Family-Support Intervention in Intensive Care Units. N Engl J Med. 2018 May 23.

  5. White DB, Ernecoff N, Buddadhumaruk P, Hong S, Weissfeld L, Curtis JR, Luce JM, Lo B. Prevalence of and Factors Related to Discordance About Prognosis Between Physicians and Surrogate Decision Makers of Critically Ill Patients. JAMA. 2016 May 17;315(19):2086-94.

  6. Bosslet GT, Pope TM, Rubenfeld GD, Lo B, Truog RD, Rushton CH, Curtis JR, Ford DW, Osborne M, Misak C, Au DH, Azoulay E, Brody B, Fahy B, Hall J, Kesecioglu J, Kin AA, Lindell K, White DB. An Official ATS/AACN/ACCP/ESICM/SCCM Policy Statement: Responding to Requests for Potentially Inappropriate Treatments in Intensive Care Units. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Jun 1;191(11):1318-30.

Recent Funding

  • NIH/NIA, R01AG066731, Randomized Trial of a Scalable, Interactive Tool to Support Surrogate Decision-Makers of Older Critically Ill Patients, Principal Investigator, 2020-2026
  • NIH/NIA , R01AG068567, Randomized Trial of Specialty Palliative Care Integrated with Critical Care for Critically Ill Older Adults at High Risk of Death or Severe Disability, Principal Investigator, 2020-2026
  • NIH/NHLBI , K24HL148314, Mentored Patient-Oriented Research in Improving Surrogate Decision Making for Patients with Advanced Respiratory Failure, Principal Investigator, 2019-2029

Awards and Honors

  • ABIM Foundation John A. Benson Jr., MD Professionalism Article Prize, 2024
  • Elected to American Association of Physicians, AAP, 2024
  • Elected Fellow, Hastings Center, 2021
  • Elected to American Society of Clinical Investigation, ASCI, 2017
  • Distinguished Research Mentor Award, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2015
  • Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholar Award in Bioethics, Greenwall Foundation, 2009