AAP Appoints Lainie Ross as Chair of Committee on Bioethics

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has tapped Lainie Friedman Ross, MD, PhD, to a four-year term as chair of the AAP Committee on Bioethics, effective July 1, 2025. In this role, Ross will guide the Academy in crafting and reviewing policy statements, technical reports, and clinical guidelines on complex ethical issues in pediatric care.

The AAP Committee on Bioethics serves as the Academy’s principal advisor on ethics in pediatric medicine. It develops policy statements and clinical guidelines grounded in ethical concepts, including the parent-child-physician relationship, pediatric decision-making involving parental consent and minor assent, and ethical principles, including “best interest of the child,” “the harm principle,” “parental autonomy,” and justice. The Committee collaborates with other sections and external partners in writing policies, reviews policies written by other sections and councils, and upholds the highest moral standards in caring for children.

“Medicine is a moral endeavor. As such, it is important that we proactively address the moral questions raised by our practices, guidelines, and use of new and evolving technologies, from artificial intelligence to gene therapies,” said Ross. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that the policies and guidelines we develop promote equitable, compassionate treatment for all children.”

As chair of the Committee on Bioethics, Ross will also be a liaison to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Ethics and serve as a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Ethics Committee.

Ross is the inaugural chair of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry’s new Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics and director of the Paul M. Schyve, MD Center for Bioethics. An internationally renowned bioethicist, she has published five books, over 225 peer-reviewed articles, and is currently authoring a sixth book on ethical issues in siblings’ roles in healthcare.

Dr. Ross has been deeply involved with the AAP’s ethics work for more than two decades, serving on the Executive Committee of the Section on Bioethics (1999-2005), Committee on Bioethics (2005–2010), Committee on Bioethics liaison to the Section on Bioethics (2005-2010), and as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Section on Bioethics (2010–2014). She has actively shaped policy on organ transplantation, genetics, clinical research ethics, and human subject protections, and serves on multiple national committees, including the Secretary’s Advisory Committee for Human Research Protections and the United Network for Organ Sharing Ethics Committee.