George E Hardart, MD, MPH

Dr. Hardart is a professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Interim Chief of Critical Care and Hospital Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, and Director of the Program in Women and Children’s Bioethics at VP&S. His research focuses on a range of ethical issues including: the ethics of healthcare crises, clinical ethics consultation, the role of family interests in medical decision-making, and ethical issues in the determination of death and organ donation.

After receiving his MD from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Dr. Hardart completed a pediatric residency and served as pediatric chief resident at the Johns Hopkins Hospital under the leadership of Dr. Frank Oski. He then moved to Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School to train in pediatric critical care medicine and medical ethics under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Truog. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, a fellowship in medical ethics at Harvard Medical School, a residency in anesthesiology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and obtained a masters in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

During his time at Columbia, Dr. Hardart was instrumental in developing a state-of-the-art Pediatric Ethics Committee and Pediatric Ethics Consultation Service. Then, in 2012, he founded and still directs the Program in Women and Children’s Bioethics at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons – the Program’s mission is to bring together the core bioethics faculty at VP&S to conduct research, develop educational programs, and provide leadership on the many bioethical challenges encountered in obstetrical and pediatric healthcare and research today. The Program now comprises 11 faculty members, teaches a pediatric ethics course at the Columbia University Master of Science in Bioethics Program, develops educational programs for housestaff and medical students, and hosts a very successful seminar series that enriches and challenges the CUIMC community.

Dr. Hardart has served as an advisor to the New York Task Force on Life and the Law on matters pertaining to pediatric ethics; most recently the NYS Pediatric Brain Death Guidelines and the NYS Pediatric Ventilator Allocation Guidelines in the Event of a Pandemic. Nationally, his leadership has focused on healthcare ethics consultation and the initiative to develop a nationally recognized certification pathway for this core hospital service. He chaired the Clinical Ethics Consultation Affairs Committee of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, and through that was responsible for writing and publishing educational materials including a book, a web-based consultation resource compendium, and a web-based proprietary practice test supporting the new national certification program for healthcare ethics consultants.