William B. Hurlbutt is a Consulting Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at

Stanford University Medical Center Stanford University Medical Center is a medical complex which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. It is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States and serves as a teaching hospital for the ...

. Born in 1945 in

St. Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, he grew up in

Bronxville Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. After receiving his undergraduate (1968) and medical (1974) training at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, he completed postdoctoral studies in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

medical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...

. He studied with Robert Hamerton-Kelly, the dean of the chapel at Stanford, and subsequently with the Rev. Louis Bouyer of the

Institut Catholique de Paris The Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), known in English as the Catholic University of Paris (and in Latin as ''Universitas catholica Parisiensis''), is a private university located in Paris, France. History: 1875–present The Institut Catholiq ...

. In addition to teaching at Stanford, Hurlbut served for eight years on the

President's Council on Bioethics The President's Council on Bioethics (PCBE) was a group of individuals appointed by United States President George W. Bush to advise his administration on bioethics. Established on November 28, 2001, by Executive Order 13237, the council was dire ...

from 2001 to 2009, and is currently a senior fellow at the

Trinity Forum The Trinity Forum (TTF) is an American faith-based non-profit Christian organization founded in 1991 by author and social critic Os Guinness and American businessman and philanthropist Alonzo L. McDonald. The current president of the Trinity ...

Career

His primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the

biological Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...

basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

of biology. His courses in biomedical ethics in the Program in Human Biology have included: Biology, Technology and Human Life, and Social and Ethical Issues in the Neurosciences. He has worked with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

on projects in

astrobiology Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that investig ...

. Since 1998 Hurlbut has been a member of the Chemical and Biological Warfare

working group A working group, or working party, is a group of experts working together to achieve specified goals. The groups are domain-specific and focus on discussion or activity around a specific subject area. The term can sometimes refer to an interdis ...

at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation. He is also a senior fellow at The Trinity Forum. Hurlbut is noted for his advocacy of Altered Nuclear Transfer (ANT), a scientific method of obtaining

pluripotent Pluripotency: These are the cells that can generate into any of the three Germ layers which imply Endodermal, Mesodermal, and Ectodermal cells except tissues like the placenta. According to Latin terms, Pluripotentia means the ability for many thin ...

stem cells without the creation and destruction of human

embryos An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sper ...

, and has spoken on the intrinsic dignity of human life, including the moral value of the human embryo. He attended the Beyond Belief symposium in November 2006. In mid-2007, Hurlbut was the guest of the BBC World Service Radio programme, ''The Interview.'' In 2009, commentary from Hurlbut was featured in the futurist documentary, ''

Transcendent Man ''Transcendent Man'' is a 2009 documentary film by American filmmaker Barry Ptolemy about inventor, futurist and author Ray Kurzweil and his predictions about the future of technology in his 2005 book, '' The Singularity is Near''. In the film, ...

.'' In 2010, Hurlbut was featured in the award-winning documentary film, ''

The Human Experience ''The Human Experience'' is a 2008 documentary produced by Grassroots Films and directed by Charles Kinnane. The film tells the story of brothers Clifford and Jeffrey Azize and their travels as they search for answers to the question, "What does i ...

.''

External links

Stanford BioU.S. President's Council on BioethicsHome page of the Center for International Security and CooperationOne Small Island of Unity in a Sea of Controversy
Q&A on altered nuclear transfer with ''The National Review''
On the Dangers of Radical Lifespan Extension
interview with ''USNews''
Explanation of the theory of Altered Nuclear Transfer
*
Interview concerning ethical use of human embryos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurlbut, William Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American biologists Stanford University School of Medicine faculty People from Bronxville, New York Stanford University alumni Living people People from St. Helena, California Scientists from New York (state)