Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Daniel Wikler’s current research interests are ethical issues in population and international health, including the allocation of health resources, health research involving human subjects, ethical dilemmas arising in public health practice, and ethical dimensions of global tobacco control policy.

He served as the first Staff Ethicist for the World Health Organization, and served as Staff Philosopher for the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Prof. Wikler was co-founder and second president of the International Association of Bioethics.

Professor Wikler’s published work addresses many issues in bioethics, including issues in reproduction, transplantation, and end-of-life decision-making in addition to population and international health. He served as editor of the Cambridge University Press series Studies in Philosophy and Health Policy, and is co-editor of the Oxford University Press series Population-Level Bioethics. Among his books are From Chance to Choice: Genetics and Justice (Cambridge), WHO’s Casebook on Ethical Issues in International Health Research; Inequalities in Health: Concepts, Measures, and Ethics (Oxford), and Measuring the Global Burden of Disease: Philosophical Dimensions (Oxford), mostly co-authored or co-edited with colleagues associated with the Harvard Program in Ethics and Health.

Prof. Wikler serves as faculty associate to a number of Harvard programs, including the Harvard Ph.D. Program in Health Policy; the Safra Center for Ethics; and Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics.