Dr. Ben Danielson, is a physician and clinical professor at the department of pediatrics, UW School of Medicine. For more than 20 years, he was the medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, a pediatric care center built to serve the health needs of children in Seattle’s Central District. In November 2020, Danielson resigned this position, citing institutional racism and resistance to change inherent in the leadership at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Danielson is a strong advocate for equitable health care and a very well respected voice on the detrimental impacts of racism in health/health care in Washington State.
Born in Boston, Mass., Danielson was placed in and (in his words) “rescued” from foster care, to be raised by his single mother in Washington, D.C., and rural Montana. He graduated with a BA/BS degree in ethology from Harvard University in 1986 and received his medical degree from UW Medicine in 1992. He completed his residency at Seattle Children’s before assuming the leadership post at the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic in 1999.