Dr. Peterson was Director of the Division of Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School from 1989-1997 and Director of the Ethics Service at the Brigham and Women's Hospital from 1997-2004. While at Harvard he developed courses in medical ethics, taught students, carried out research projects, provided consultations, organized postgraduate courses and served on a number of ethics committees. Since retiring from surgical practice in 2004 he has joined the Dartmouth faculty and two of its ethics committees; he teaches students and residents, has organized a research project on end of life care and an ethics committee for the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire.