About

Dr. Paul H. Wise is the Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society and Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology and Developmental Medicine, and Health Policy at Stanford University. He is dedicated to bridging the fields of child health equity, public policy, and international security studies. Wise is also co-Director of the Stanford Center for Prematurity Research and a Senior Fellow in the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, as well as the Center for International Security and Cooperation at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. His work has addressed disparities in birth outcomes, regionalized specialty care for children, and Medicaid within the U.S., and he has focused internationally on women’s and child health in violent and politically complex environments, including Ukraine, Gaza, Central America, Venezuela, and children in detention on the U.S.-Mexico border. Wise is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served in various professional and consultative roles, including as Special Assistant to the U.S. Surgeon General and member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Pathology
• Geography
• Obstetrics
• Public relations
• Pediatrics
• Biology
• Criminology
• Environmental health
• Law
• Virology
• Internal medicine
• Socioeconomics

Selected publications

• Treatment Decision Making at Diagnosis for Children Presenting With Advanced Cancer in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

  JCO Global Oncology · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  PURPOSE: Although most children diagnosed with cancer live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), research exploring decision making in these settings remains sparse. When children present with advanced cancer in LMICs, local centers may lack resources to provide treatment required to achieve cure. Existing treatment guidelines often do not account for contextual and resource variations influencing decision making. This qualitative study sought to understand physician approaches to treatment decision making for children presenting with advanced cancer at diagnosis in LMICs. METHODS: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 36 physicians caring for children with cancer across all world regions and representing diverse income levels. Interviews were conducted in English, audio-recorded, and transcribed. Inductive content analysis focused on decision-making approaches. RESULTS: Most participants were female (n = 24; 67%), older than 36 years (n = 32; 89%), and practiced at centers caring for >100 new childhood cancer cases annually (n = 26; 72%) in lower-middle-income countries (n = 20; 55%). A spectrum of cancers were reported as advanced at diagnosis, with no single diagnosis predominating. Physicians generally recommended four treatment approaches (eg, curative-intent, non-curative-intent, referral, or limited chemotherapy trial), resulting in seven outcome pathways based on whether a family accepted, challenged, or declined the proposed treatment. Four decision-making approaches (eg, physician-led, family-led, participatory, or externally influenced) informed determinations of goals of care focused on optimizing prognostic outcomes, providing individualized care, and committing to treating all children, irrespective of differences in patient/family circumstances. CONCLUSION: Physicians caring for children with cancer in LMICs navigate complex treatment decision making, considering diverse treatment paths and goals. Pragmatic, evidence-based interventions are needed to guide decision making, flexible to local constraints.

  PublisherDOI

• Safeguarding the Health of Children in Carceral Custody

  JAMA Pediatrics · 2026-01-26 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  This Viewpoint discusses the health risks faced by children confined in immigration detention, juvenile justice, and criminal justice custody.

  PublisherDOI

• Protecting Children From the Harms of Immigration Detention and Family Separation—Reply

  JAMA Pediatrics · 2026-05-11

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The impact of armed conflict on global patterns of childhood cancer

  The Lancet Oncology · 2025-04-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Explaining the Black-White Disparity in Preterm Birth: A Consensus Statement From a Multi-Disciplinary Scientific Work Group Convened by the March of Dimes

  UNC Libraries · 2025-05-14

  articleOpen access

  In 2017-2019, the March of Dimes convened a workgroup with biomedical, clinical, and epidemiologic expertise to review knowledge of the causes of the persistent Black-White disparity in preterm birth (PTB). Multiple databases were searched to identify hypothesized causes examined in peer-reviewed literature, 33 hypothesized causes were reviewed for whether they plausibly affect PTB and either occur more/less frequently and/or have a larger/smaller effect size among Black women vs. White women. While definitive proof is lacking for most potential causes, most are biologically plausible. No single downstream or midstream factor explains the disparity or its social patterning, however, many likely play limited roles, e.g., while genetic factors likely contribute to PTB, they explain at most a small fraction of the disparity. Research links most hypothesized midstream causes, including socioeconomic factors and stress, with the disparity through their influence on the hypothesized downstream factors. Socioeconomic factors alone cannot explain the disparity's social patterning. Chronic stress could affect PTB through neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms leading to inflammation and immune dysfunction, stress could alter a woman's microbiota, immune response to infection, chronic disease risks, and behaviors, and trigger epigenetic changes influencing PTB risk. As an upstream factor, racism in multiple forms has repeatedly been linked with the plausible midstream/downstream factors, including socioeconomic disadvantage, stress, and toxic exposures. Racism is the only factor identified that directly or indirectly could explain the racial disparities in the plausible midstream/downstream causes and the observed social patterning. Historical and contemporary systemic racism can explain the racial disparities in socioeconomic opportunities that differentially expose African Americans to lifelong financial stress and associated health-harming conditions. Segregation places Black women in stressful surroundings and exposes them to environmental hazards. Race-based discriminatory treatment is a pervasive stressor for Black women of all socioeconomic levels, considering both incidents and the constant vigilance needed to prepare oneself for potential incidents. Racism is a highly plausible, major upstream contributor to the Black-White disparity in PTB through multiple pathways and biological mechanisms. While much is unknown, existing knowledge and core values (equity, justice) support addressing racism in efforts to eliminate the racial disparity in PTB.

  PublisherDOI

• No excuses - improving child public health outcomes in humanitarian settings requires reliable data

  PLOS Global Public Health · 2025-03-14

  articleOpen accessCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The impact of aid sanctions on maternal and child mortality, 1990–2019: a panel analysis

  The Lancet Global Health · 2025-03-19 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Aid sanctions are a type of financial punishment imposed on a country by other countries or international organisations in response to a political coup, armed conflict, or human rights abuses. Humanitarian catastrophes in Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Myanmar have brought aid sanctions to the centre of the foreign affairs strategy debate because of their inadvertent negative effects on human health. Our analysis investigates the effects of aid sanctions from 1990 to 2019 on maternal and child mortality. These questions are particularly relevant in the context of the abrupt shift in US foreign aid policy in 2025, leading to aid prohibitions that might resemble aid sanctions in their effects. METHODS: Data were drawn from a broad set of sources, including population health metrics databases, established sanctions databases, and a novel global dataset on aid sanctions created for this study. We assessed the prevalence of the use of aid sanctions worldwide during 1990-2019 and estimated their impact on official development assistance (ODA) and development assistance for health (DAH). We investigated the effect of aid sanctions on infant (age <1 year), children younger than 5 years (hereafter referred to as under-5), maternal (within 42 days of the end of pregnancy), and all-age mortality rates using panel difference-in-differences ordinary least squares estimation. We applied linear regression methods and included country and year fixed effects, country-specific time trends, and multiple control variables. We also conducted a series of sensitivity analyses, including entropy balancing, to confirm the validity of our results. FINDINGS: During our study period, 67 low-income or middle-income countries (LMICs) and sovereign territories (hereafter referred to as countries) were targeted by 88 unique aid sanction episodes. Relative to our control group of 66 never-sanctioned countries, aid sanctions reduced ODA by an estimated US$213·07 million per year (95% CI 502·28 to -76·12) for the average target country and reduced DAH by $16·42 million (32·57 to 0·27)--a 17% reduction in DAH. Aid sanctions resulted in an additional 129·3 infant deaths per 100 000 livebirths (11·7 to 246·9), an additional 47·1 under-5 deaths per 100 000 livebirths (-2·8 to 97·0), and an additional 10·9 (2·2-19·6) maternal deaths per 100 000 livebirths, per year. Relative to mean in-sample mortality rates, aid sanctions thus increased infant, under-5, and maternal mortality rates by 3·1%, 3·6%, and 6·4%, respectively, on an annual basis. INTERPRETATION: Over the period 1990-2019, infant, under-5, and maternal mortality rates among LMICs declined at average annualised rates of 2·6%, 3·2%, and 2·0%, respectively. Aid sanction episodes lasting 5 years-the median duration observed in our sample-would thus negate nearly 30% of the overall improvements in infant and under-5 mortality seen in the average LMIC over this period and approximately 60% of the improvements in maternal mortality. Our findings suggest that aid sanctions are leading to increases in child and maternal mortality via reductions to ODA and DAH and they can inadvertently compound human suffering. This research provides quantitative evidence to support growing legislative awareness of the importance of assessing health impacts while aid sanctions are imposed, and highlights the need to monitor the consequences of foreign aid policies by donor countries, such as foreign aid prohibitions and restrictions. FUNDING: Center for Innovation in Global Health and the Maternal and Child Health Research Institute, Stanford University. TRANSLATIONS: For the Arabic, French, Mandarin and Russian translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

  PublisherDOI

• A Neutral Analysis of Law Enforcement Preparedness and Responses to Inmates during Hurricane Katrina

  Open Journal of Social Sciences · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, was one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in United States history (George W. Bush Presidential Library, n.d.). The disaster led to widespread criticism of the local, state, and federal responses, particularly regarding crisis management by law enforcement and correctional facilities. This paper provides a neutral analysis of the roles and challenges faced by law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities during Hurricane Katrina, drawing from various reports and studies as it attempts to convey the vulnerability of inmates and law enforcement/correctional staff, the changes, and the absence of critical incident preparation and newly employed policies. Law enforcement agencies faced significant challenges, such as maintaining public order, ensuring public safety, and coordinating evacuation efforts. The unprecedented scale of the disaster overwhelmed many agencies, leading to widespread criticism of their preparedness and response effectiveness.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Documenting atrocity: child malnutrition in Gaza

  The Lancet · 2025-10-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bearing Witness: Témoignage as a Tool for Child Advocacy during Armed Conflict

  PLOS Global Public Health · 2025-09-10 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Children affected by armed conflict suffer devastating physical, emotional, and social harm. War uproots families, forcing many to flee as refugees or internally displaced persons, while others remain trapped in dangerous environments. In these crises, children face disproportionate risks-violence, exploitation, disrupted education, and collapsed healthcare systems. Their unique vulnerabilities require urgent, targeted action to protect their health, rights, and development. Beyond immediate care, the humanitarian principle of témoignage-bearing witness-is essential. Rooted in humanitarian ethics, témoignage means speaking out about injustice, amplifying the voices of those affected, and driving systemic change. It challenges traditional notions of neutrality and calls on humanitarian professionals to ethically advocate for those they serve. Pediatricians and pediatric organizations have a moral duty to ensure that children affected by conflict are seen, heard, and not forgotten. This commentary calls for recognizing children's distinct humanitarian rights and urges global pediatric societies to take action. To guide this effort, the paper introduces a framework of seven pillars of pediatric témoignage: 1. Amplifying children's voices, 2. Advocating for systemic justice, 3. Providing trauma-informed care, 4. Supporting education and psychosocial integration, 5. Advancing training and research, 6. Building professional and community networks, and 7. Creating platforms for policy influence. These pillars offer a shared language and practical strategies for pediatricians to document harm, collaborate with advocacy groups, and speak out in public forums. Through témoignage, pediatricians can help protect children's dignity and rights, ensure their suffering is not normalized, and contribute to a more just and responsive global system for children in conflict.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HD024124

  NIH · $308k · 1990

Frequent coauthors

• Lisa Chamberlain

  Stanford University

  127 shared

• Wendy Chavkin

  Columbia University

  64 shared

• Olga Saynina

  64 shared

• Diana Romero

  The Graduate Center, CUNY

  57 shared

• Eyal Cohen

  Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences

  56 shared

• Douglas K Owens

  Stanford University

  51 shared

• Dena M Bravata

  51 shared

• Henrik Toft Sørensen

  Aarhus University Hospital

  51 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences