Christy L. Cummings, MD, HEC-C

Christy L. Cummings, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, an NICHD-funded physician-scientist-ethicist, and an attending neonatologist in the Division of Newborn Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A graduate of Colby College, Dr. Cummings received her medical degree from the University of Rochester, and training in Pediatrics, Neonatology and Ethics at Yale. She completed Yale’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics Program in Bioethics and the Fellowship Program in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School, and is a certified healthcare ethics consultant (HEC-C).

Dr. Cummings is a longstanding member of the Ethics Advisory Committee at Boston Children’s Hospital, is Director of Education and Program Director for the Pediatric Ethics Fellowship for the Center for Pediatric Bioethics. She is also Director of Medical Ethics & Humanities for the Division of Newborn Medicine. After serving on the BCH IRB for over 6 years, she is now Chair of the Fetal Therapy Board for the Fetal Care & Surgery Center. Her research and scholarly activities focus on medical ethics and humanism in pediatrics and neonatology and their intersection with medical education, including counseling, communication, and decision-making. She is passionate about research that cultivates the moral, human aspect of medicine, and loves teaching and mentoring. Recent work has appeared in Pediatrics, JAMA Peds, Hastings Center Report, J Perinatology, J Pediatrics, and Journal of Medical Ethics. Dr. Cummings has 4 children, and enjoys time with her family, running, swimming, triathlons, reading, and playing the cello.