Prior to his arrival at Harvard, Professor Daniels was Goldthwaite Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Tufts University and Professor of Medical Ethics at Tufts Medical School. His research encompasses issues of distributive justice and health policy, philosophy of science, ethics, political and social philosophy, and medical ethics. Publications include Justice and Justification: Reflective Equilibrium in Theory and Practice and Seeking Fair Treatment: From the AIDS Epidemic to National Health Care Reform. His most recent works include Setting Limits Fairly: Can We Learn to Share Medical Resources? and Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly. He served on the Ethics Working Group of the Clinton White House Health Care Task Force.

His current research focuses on adapting the "benchmarks of fairness" for use in less developed countries (WHO Bulletin, 2000, 2005), on developing fair process for priority and limit setting decisions about resource allocation in various settings, including the new Mexican health insurance plan (Health Affairs 2003, Lancet 2005), and on issues of global justice. 

Professor Daniels was a Faculty Fellow in Ethics in 1992-1993, and became a Faculty Associate of the Center in 2002.