Julian L. Seifter, M.D.
October 24, 2025
Julian L. Seifter, MD, the Haidas Family and Julian L. Seifter Distinguished Chair in Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, advanced kidney medicine for more than four decades. He specialized in chronic kidney disease and acid-base physiology and played a central role in shaping research, education, and clinical practice in nephrology.
Dr. Seifter authored more than 150 scientific papers and reviews in The New England Journal of Medicine, The American Journal of Physiology, and other leading journals. He wrote textbooks on renal physiology and contributed chapters to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine and Cecil Goldman's Textbook of Medicine.
At Harvard Medical School, he served as Associate Master and Senior Advisor of the Walter Bradford Cannon Academic Society and became the inaugural electee to the Academy at Harvard Medical School. He earned multiple awards for teaching, mentorship, gender equity, and compassionate care. Dr. Seifter taught and lectured internationally, including in Russia, China, Taiwan, Norway, Mexico, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, England, Ireland, Germany, and Austria.
He co-authored After the Diagnosis: Transcending Chronic Illness with Betsy Seifter, combining his experiences as both physician and patient to examine the doctor–patient relationship and the human dimension of medicine. Through his scholarship, teaching, and clinical work, Dr. Seifter emphasized that effective care begins with understanding the person, not just the disease.
View obituary »
