Katherine Peeler is an Associate Physician in the Division of Medical Critical Care at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is a member of the faculty of the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics where she teaches introductory bioethics and courses related to the intersection of bioethics and human rights. Dr. Peeler’s research focuses on the health of detained immigrants in the United States. In particular, Dr. Peeler has studied detention and other custodial conditions of relief-seeking migrants in U.S. government custody with the goal of informing policies to improve the health of these populations. She is a medical advisor for the non-profit organization Physicians for Human Rights and an active member in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health.
From 2022-2023, Dr. Peeler was a fellow at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics and Fellow-in-Residence at Harvard University’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics. From 2023-2024, she remained at the Safra Center as a Justice, Health, and Democracy Impact Initiative Research fellow conducting research related to solitary confinement in immigration detention.
Dr. Peeler studied history and French at Georgetown University, attended medical school at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and received her MA in medical anthropology at Harvard University. She completed pediatrics residency at University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital and pediatric critical care fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Peeler is co-editor of the book “Voices from the Front Lines: The Pandemic and the Humanities.”
For more information, visit https://bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/katherine-peeler