Peter Wolff, MD, Clinical Investigations
Dr. Peter Wolff began his career after completing residency training at Yale University, and a Fellowship at the Austin Riggs Center in Stockbridge. His career has been marked by innovation, prescience, and dedication to the welfare of children.

Dr. Wolff had the distinction of being one of the first recipients of an NIH Career Development Award for his work on the development of emotional expressions in early infancy. His early research led to a number of major discoveries, including a uniquely human pattern of sucking, the characteristics of vocal crying that may distinguish healthy and sick infants, and the organization of sleep and wakefulness into distinctive behavioral states. His original work continues to motivate current research on infant behavior. Over the past two decades Peter’s work on motor rhythms has provided a critical link between timing disorders in motor behavior and learning problems of children diagnosed with dyslexia.

Peter may be best known at Children’s for his longstanding service as Chair of the Committee on Clinical Investigation. Because of his unwavering commitment to ethical integrity, his instinct is always to do the right thing. Peter’s views consistently promote advocacy and protection of the rights of individuals participating in research.

He has also been a loyal advocate for children, especially innocent victims of wars. As a member of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, he was instrumental in bringing Vietnamese children to Boston for medical treatment and raised funds to re-build the Bach Mai Hospital, in what was then North Vietnam, which had been destroyed by American bombing. In more recent years, he focused his commitment on the people of Eritrea, in East Africa, combining his studies with advocacy for the childhood victims of the lengthy civil war. For the past 20 years he has committed his efforts to improving the medical and social care of over 9,000 Eritrean children in orphanages.

Peter’s wisdom, compassion, and courage to be true to his ideals have been the hallmark of his long and distinguished career.