Steven Joffe, MD, MPH, and Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD, have been named Vice Chair of Medical Ethics and Vice Chair of Health Policy, respectively, in the Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I am delighted to announce these newly created roles for Dr. Volpp and Dr. Joffe, who will together help cement our department's national leadership in the areas of both health policy and medical ethics,” said Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MSC, MD, PhD, Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. “They will undoubtedly enable Penn to build on its role as a key contributor to important national discussions in both these disciplines, which reach across all areas of health care delivery in the 21st century."

Dr. Steve Joffe, a pediatric oncologist and bioethicist, is currently the Emanuel and Robert Hart Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy.  He is also the Director of the Penn Fellowship in Advanced Biomedical Ethics, chairs the Children’s Oncology Group Bioethics Committee, and serves as a member of the FDA’s Pediatrics Ethics Subcommittee.

His research addresses the many ethical challenges that arise in the conduct of clinical and translational investigation.  He has led NIH and foundation grants to study the roles and responsibilities of principal investigators in multicenter randomized trials, accountability in the clinical research enterprise, and children’s capacity to engage in research decisions. He has coauthored over 75 articles addressing these topics.  He is also an elected member of the American Pediatric Society and a Fellow of The Hastings Center.

Dr. Joffe attended Harvard College, received his medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco, and received his public health degree from UC Berkeley.  He trained in pediatrics at UCSF and undertook fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital.  He is an attending physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Kevin Volpp is the founding Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the Leonard Davis Institute (LDI CHIBE), one of two NIH- funded Centers on Behavioral Economics and Health in the United States. He also serves as co-director of the Penn Medicine Center for Innovation, and is a professor of Health Care Management at the Wharton School.

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