Tyler Tate, M.D., M.A.

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
  • Director of Professionalism and Comfort Care, Center for Ethics
  • Associate Director, Center for Ethics
  • Miles J. Edwards Chair in Professionalism and Comfort Care
  • Center for Ethics in Health Care, School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Tate specializes in caring for children and adults with serious medical conditions. He has advanced training in palliative medicine, a field committed to providing excellent symptom management and facilitating clear and thoughtful communication among patients, families, and medical teams. Dr. Tate’s favorite thing about palliative medicine is that he often gets to sit down with patients and their families and listen to their stories. He deeply values the relationships that he is able to build through his work.

From a scholarly perspective, his research lies at the intersection of philosophy, religion, literature and medical practice. As a practicing palliative care physician, Dr. Tate is interested in identifying and analyzing the conceptual foundations of palliative care with a special focus of suffering, flourishing and love, as well as language and metaphor use in the medical encounter. In addition, he is interested in the moral formation of clinicians and in how medical education can better cultivate compassionate and humanistic medical care.

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • M.D., 2012, University of Alabama
    • M.A., 2017, University of Washington

  • Residency

    • Pediatrics, University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, 2015

  • Fellowship

    • Clinical Ethics, University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle, WA, 2017
    • Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, 2018

  • Certifications

    • American Board of Pediatrics, 2015
    • American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 2018

Memberships and associations:

  • American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
  • American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
  • American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Society of Christian Ethics

Publications

Elsevier pure profile

Selected publications

  • “What we talk about when we talk about pediatric suffering” Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (forthcoming).
  • “'Do ye hear the children weeping?' a philosophical investigation of childhood suffering” Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (forthcoming).
  • "'Your father’s a fighter and your daughter’s a vegetable': A critical analysis of the use of metaphor in clinical practice" Hastings Center Report (in press).
  • “Pediatric suffering and the burden of proof” Pediatrics (in press).
  • “Ethical issues in palliative care research” Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine 6th edition (in press).
  • “Pierre in the Clinic” Pediatric Ethicsope: The Journal of Pediatric Ethics 2020.
  • “What we mean when we talk about suffering---and why Eric Cassell should not have the last word” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2019.
  • “Empathetic practice: the struggle and virtue of empathizing with a patient’s suffering” The Hastings Center Report 2019.
  • “Listen to me” Journal of Palliative Medicine 2019.
  • “The liminal space: a lamentation on faith, nihilism, and the senseless death of a child” Journal of Palliative Medicine 2018.

Publications