William B. Hurlbut

Who is William B. Hurlbut?

William B. Hurlbut is a physician and Consulting Professor in the Neuroscience Institute at Stanford, Stanford University Medical Center. Born in St. Helena, California, he grew up in Bronxville, New York. After receiving his undergraduate and medical training at Stanford, he completed postdoctoral studies in theology and medical ethics, studying with Robert Hamerton-Kelly, the Dean of the Chapel at Stanford, and subsequently with the Rev. Louis Bouyer of the Institut Catholique de Paris. In addition to teaching at Stanford, he served for eight years on the President's Council on Bioethics.

His primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the biological basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology and philosophy of biology. His courses in biomedical ethics in the Program in Human Biology have included: Biology, Technology and Human Life, and Ethical Issues in the Neurosciences. He has worked with NASA on projects in astrobiology and since 1998 has been a member of the Chemical and Biological Warfare working group at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Dr. Hurlbut has come to national prominence for his advocacy of Altered Nuclear Transfer, a scientific method of obtaining pluripotent stem cells without the creation and destruction of human embryos. He has spoken all over the world on the intrinsic dignity of human life, including the moral value of the human embryo.