Co-Scientific Director
Chris Feudtner is assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and attending physician, director of research for the Pediatric Advanced Care Team and the Integrated Care Service, and co-scientific director of PolicyLab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In these roles, Dr. Feudtner both provides care to children with complex chronic conditions and investigates ways to improve the quality of life for these children and their families. In 2008, he assumed the responsibilities of director of the new Department of Medical Ethics at Children’s Hospital and holds the Steven D. Handler Endowed Chair of Medical Ethics.
With funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Nursing Research, Dr. Feudtner’s research has focused on understanding the epidemiology and healthcare experience of children with complex chronic conditions, with a particular emphasis on palliative, end-of-life, and bereavement care, as well as hospital in-patient care. His current projects include several studies of the care received by children who died in hospitals and of children who were cared for at home by hospices; the development of a model that predicts the likelihood of death during the year after a child is admitted to a hospital; directing a multicenter retrospective cohort study of children receiving palliative care at six hospitals in the United States and Canada; and two prospective cohort studies of children and families after they embark on the pursuit of palliative care, seeking to understand the processes of receiving palliative care and of decision making. He is also leading a national study of pediatric inpatient drug use patterns. He is developing projects to rigorously study and effectively teach the micro-skills of collaborative communication in clinical practice and to improve the methods of developing and evaluating organizational policy.
Dr. Feudtner received his medical degree and his doctoral degree in the history of medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, and completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Washington in 1998. Between 1998-2000, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and earned his Masters in Public Health degree from the University of Washington. An esteemed teacher, in 2002 he was awarded the Stanley Stamm Role Model in Medicine from the Pediatric Residency Program of the University of Washington, and in 2005 the Class of 1990 David Cornfeld Bedside Teaching Award from the Housestaff of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
A well-published author of more than 100 original articles and chapters on children with complex chronic conditions; pediatric healthcare, palliative, end-of-life, and bereavement care; and various topics regarding medical ethics. Dr. Feudtner has also published a book, Bittersweet: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness (University of North Carolina Press, 2003). He lives with his wife (a family physician) and three children in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Research Interests
Complex chronic conditions
Family and parent supports
Contact Information
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Select Publications
Hexem KR, Mollen CJ, Carroll K, Lanctot DA, Feudtner C. How parents of children receiving pediatric palliative care use religion, spirituality, or life philosophy in tough times. J Palliat Med. 2011 Jan;14(1):39-44.
Feudtner C, Pati S, Goodman DM, Kahn MG, Sharma V, Hutto JH, Levin JE, Slonim AD, Hall M, Shah SS. State-level child health system performance and the likelihood of readmission to children's hospitals. Pediatrics. 2010 Jul; 157(1):98-102.e1. Epub 2010 Mar 20.
Feudtner C, Levin JE, Srivastava R, Goodman DM, Slonim AD, Sharma V, Shah SS, Pati S, Fargason C Jr, Hall M. How well can hospital readmission be predicted in a cohort of hospitalized children? A retrospective, multicenter study. Pediatrics. 2009;123(1):286-93.
Linton J, Feudtner C. What accounts for differences or disparities in pediatric palliative and end-of-life care? Systematic review focusing on multilevel mechanisms. Pediatrics. 2008;122(3):574-82.
Feudtner C. Collaborative communication in pediatric palliative care: A foundation for problem-solving and decision-making. Pediatric Clinics of North America. 2007;54(5):583-607.
Carroll JM, Santucci C, Kang TI, Feudtner C. Partners in pediatric palliative care: A program to enhance collaboration between hospital and community palliative care services. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care. 2007;24(3):1.
Feudtner C, Feinstein JA, Satchell M, Zhao H, Kang TI. Shifting place of death among children with complex chronic conditions in the United States, 1989-2003. JAMA. 2007;297(24):2725-32.
Feudtner C, Silveira MJ, Shabbout M, Hoskins RE. Distance from home when death occurs: A population-based study of Washington state, 1989-2002. Pediatrics. 2006;117(5):e932-e939.
Feudtner C, Santucci G, Feinstein JA, Snyder CA, Rourke MT, Kang TI. Hopeful thinking and level of comfort regarding providing pediatric palliative care: A survey of hospital nurses. Pediatrics. 2007;119(1):e186-e192.
Feudtner C, Silveira MJ, Christakis DA. Where do children with complex chronic conditions die? Patterns in Washington state, 1980-1998. Pediatrics. 2002;109:656-60.
Feudtner C, Christakis DA, Zimmerman FJ, Muldoon JH, Neff JM, Koepsell TD. Characteristics of deaths occurring in children's hospitals: Implications for supportive care services. Pediatrics. 2002;109:887-93.
Feudtner C, Villareale N, Sharp V, Hays R, Neff J. Technology-dependency among patients discharged from a children's hospital: A retrospective cohort study. BMC Pediatrics. 2005;5(1):8.
Kimberly MB, Forte AL, Carroll JM, Feudtner C. Pediatric do-not-attempt-resuscitation orders and public schools: A national assessment of policies and laws. Amer J Bioethics. 2005;5(1):59-65.
Feudtner C, DiGuisseppe DL, Neff JM. Hospital care for children in the last year of life: A population-based study of Washington state, 1990-1996. BMC Medicine. 2003;1(3).
