Simon Newcomb Whitney, Jr., November 14, 2023

Simon Whitney, MD, JD is a family physician and ethicist. He taught at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where he held the William O’Donnell and Regina O’Donnell Chair in Family Medicine, for twenty-two years. He is retired from the practice of medicine but continues to publish and teach about medical ethics.

Dr. Whitney has studied the Institutional Review Board system, including its origins, its triumphs, and its failures, since 2007. He has spoken at national and international conferences and published in professional journals including Pediatrics, Annals of Internal Medicine, Risk Management, and the American Journal of Bioethics.

In 2023, he published From Oversight to Overkill: Inside the Broken System That Blocks Medical Breakthroughs—And How We Can Fix It (Rivertowns Books). This book brings to life how scientists struggle with excessive oversight, how the process delays cures that we all need, and what we should do about it. In 2015, he published Balanced Ethics Review: A Guide for the Institutional Review Board Member (Springer). IRBs have long been seen as having a single purpose: to protect research subjects from abuse. This is the first manual to show how IRBs can fulfill their second, unspoken purpose: to allow scientists to save lives without unnecessary bureaucratic hindrances.

[Here is a 2 minute YouTube video where Simon introduces his book:  HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/6TL19CXPWLC?SI=MUNFIWBOLKZVZUQQ ]

He has also published articles about breaking bad news to cancer patients, about how patients and doctors should share in medical decision making, and other topics in medical ethics.

Education:

– BA, Yale University, 1974

– MD, New York University, 1979

– Family Medicine Residency, Swedish Hospital, Seattle, 1982

– Board certified in family medicine, 1982

– JD with distinction, Stanford Law School, 1998

– Fellowship in Biomedical Ethics, Stanford, completed 1999

From 25th Reunion Essay:

I entered Yale a little unsure of what I wanted. I dropped out (before that became fashionable), then reentered, then dropped out again, then was readmitted for a second time, thanks to Martin Griffm, a particularly understanding dean. I finally graduated in 1974, completing my nine-year B.A.

Things got calmer after that. I went to New York University Medical School and then did my specialty training in family practice in Seattle. I’ve been a family physician in semirural Snohomish, Washington, since 1982.

I used to enjoy outdoor activities—hiking, tennis, and so forth. With two small children and a busy practice, my hobbies have approached the vanishing point. I have found time for some community activities—I was chair of the medical committee of the local Planned Parenthood affiliate for a while; I’ve also supervised the fire department’s aid crews. But in general our life is pretty domestic, which suits me fine.

Between 1994 and 2019, Simon got a law degree from Stanford, served on some Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), moved to Houston and joined the Baylor Medical School faculty part time;  He also became an author, with a popular critique of IRBs:

Amazon summarized those works as follows:

Simon N. Whitney, MD, JD is supremely qualified to write about research oversight, having attained a medical degree, a law degree, and completed a fellowship in medical ethics. He therefore understands research oversight, which in the United States is conducted through Institutional Review Boards or IRBs, from a unique perspective.

Whitney’s first major publication was Balanced Ethics Review: A Guide for Institutional Review Board Members (2015). Most manuals emphasize the IRB’s role in protecting research subjects. Whitney’s contribution demonstrates the importance of a balanced approach, one that recognizes that there is moral value in both protecting research subjects from abuse and reducing the suffering and death of members of the public.

His capstone publication is From Oversight to Overkill: Inside the Broken System That Blocks Medical Breakthroughs—And How We Can Fix It, which presents the problems of excessive oversight through a series of compelling case studies. It shows how the work of scientists in fields ranging from the prevention of kidney stones to the treatment of extremely premature infants is delayed and damaged by excessive oversight. But the problem is not in the IRBs themselves; it comes from misguided federal, and ultimately Congressional, oversight. From Oversight to Overkill explains this in clear language, and paths a way forward so that we can all benefit from medical research that is freed of unnecessary burdens.

Some of the reviews:

• “Simon Whitney reveals a scandal that every scientist knows but none has mustered the courage to oppose: lifesaving research in the US is crippled by a mindless, Kafkaesque bureaucracy dedicated not to protecting patients but to covering its derrière and expanding its fiefdom. From Oversight to Overkill would be a whiz-bang book even if it just blew the whistle on this outrage, but it’s also as entertaining as any medical bestseller, enlivened with unforgettable stories and vigorous, witty prose.”
  –Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and the author of Enlightenment Now and Rationality
• “Making the urgent case that oversight done wrong limits crucial, sometimes life-saving options for patients and doctors, Whitney calls for a new approach to how institutional review operates for medical research involving human subjects in the U.S. . . . a cogent stylist and persuasive constructor of arguments, [he offers] a convincing argument for reform to better serve patients and society.”
  –Publishers Weekly BookLife (Editor’s Pick)
• “If you’re interested in clinical research, read this book! It is not a diatribe against IRBs. It’s a call to action to make them more humane. It is highly readable and persuasive.”
  –Rhode Island Medical Journal

50th Reunion Essay:

Martin Griffin, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, reviewed my file and then put the folder back on his desk. It was the summer of 1972. “We will readmit you,” he said. “But this is your last chance.” His caution was understandable; at that point I had dropped out twice. So I was a student again, studying and writing, if not with joy, then at least with determination.

A year later I developed testicular cancer, which was then often fatal. Thank you, Molly Meyer, RN, who organized the care at Yale Health that saved my life, permitting me to graduate, summa cum tarde, in 1974. My life has been all bonus since then, starting at NYU medical school and then on to a residency in family medicine in Seattle. …

My first career was as a family doctor, first in private practice near Seattle, then at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. … My second career has been in medical ethics, beginning with a JD at Stanford Law School in 1998.

The above is compiled from the sources indicated.  If you have recollections, reminiscences or stories, or want to add anything to the above, please either comment below with “Leave A Reply” or email your thoughts to Dan Seiver (seiverda@miamioh.edu) and Wayne Willis (support@Yale1969.org).  If you have any good pictures, send them to Wayne, and he can add them to this post manually.