David B. Fletcher, PhD, is a graduate of Trinity College, Loyola University, and earned his PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all in philosophy. Dr. Fletcher has taught in the Philosophy Department of Wheaton College since 1981 and has chaired the department for three years upon the retirement of its founder, Dr. Arthur F. Holmes.
Dr. Fletcher’s professional interest in bioethics was born with his editorial work at the Journal of the American Medical Association, and deepened during his teaching assistant duties in a bioethics course in the mid 1970s that led to his writing a dissertation on the ethics of human subjects research at the University of Illinois. Bioethical issues also occupied Dr. Fletcher as Visiting Scholar at Oxford University in 1991. He has been involved with bioethics initiatives at Trinity International University since their inception, regularly teaches graduate courses in the bioethics program, and was a Fellow of The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity from 2010-2018.
Dr. Fletcher helped to found The Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College and continues to chair its Steering Committee, was Vice President of the Illinois Philosophical Association (1997-1999), and serves on the editorial board of Ethics & Medicine. He has published in ethical theory, bioethics, Kierkegaard, and social philosophy, and has been interviewed by U.S. News and World Report, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and has appeared on television and radio.
Dr. Fletcher has interests in liturgy and church history. He lives in Wheaton with his wife Joyce, a counselor and professor at College of DuPage, and their son Andrew, a college student. The Fletchers are very active in their church, where Dr. Fletcher serves on the adult education commission, music, and worship.
Updated September 2014
