Full Bio
Dr. Unguru is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist with joint faculty appointments at The Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai and The John Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, where he is a Core Faculty member. He is also Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University. His B.A. in historical studies and M.A. with a concentration in the history of medicine and medical ethics were granted at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. Unguru also received a Master of Science (valedictorian) in interdisciplinary studies in biological and physical science at Touro College / Barry Z. Levine School of Health Sciences. He earned his M.D. (valedictorian) at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology / Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital at Sinai and his pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC. Dr. Unguru was a postdoctoral Greenwall Fellow in Bioethics and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Unguru is board certified both in pediatrics and in pediatric hematology/oncology.
Dr. Unguru’s research interests include clinical and research ethics. His scholarship and publications have focused on the role of children and providers in facilitating shared decision-making, end-of-life decision-making, allocation of scarce lifesaving medications, and ethics education. Dr. Unguru has served as a consultant to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Pediatric Research, the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, the Food Drug and Administration, and the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He is on the Editorial Board of Pediatric Ethicscope and serves as a peer reviewer for leading academic medical journals. Dr. Unguru is Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group, Bioethics Steering Committee and past member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Ethics Committee.
Dr. Unguru is the Chairman of the Ethics Committee at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore where he implemented and directs a clinical ethics curriculum for the pediatric house staff at The Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai. He is past recipient of “Teacher of the Year” as chosen by the pediatric house staff at The Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Unguru leads a multidisciplinary, transnational working group examining the ethical and policy implications of chemotherapy shortages in childhood cancer and is a member of the Maryland health system consortium tasked with operationalizing scarce resource allocation processes for public health catastrophes, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Select Media Appearances
- New York Times, “Drug Shortages Forcing Hard Decisions on Rationing Treatments” (Jan. 29, 2016)
- NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, “Shortages of Children’s Cancer Drugs and How to Allocate Them” (Feb. 1, 2016)
- MSNBC, “Colorado governor signs nation’s first ‘Right to Try’ law” (May 18, 2014)