Partipant profiles
Short profiles on each of the participants in the seminar series:
- Prof. Margaret Brazier
- Prof Ruth Chadwick
- Dr. Antonia Cronin
- Dr Phil Dyer
- Dr. Anne-Maree Farrell
- Prof John Harris
- Dr. Mairi Levitt
- Dr. Salla Lötjönen
- Dr. Monica Navarro Michel
- Prof. David Price
- Dr. Muireann Quigley
- Ms. Helen Rickard
- Dr. Magi Sque
- Mrs. Michaela Willis
- Ms. Linda Wright
Professor Margaret Brazier OBE
Professor Margaret Brazier graduated in law in 1971 and was called to the Bar in 1973. She has taught at the University of Manchester since 1971 and became Professor of Law in 1990. She is joint Director of the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy (CSEP), University of Manchester. She has participated in and/or directed a range of research projects, including EU funded research into the ethics of control of communicable diseases and reproductive choice. She edits the Medical Law Review. Her teaching and research interests centre on health care law and tort. She has written widely on medical law and ethics, with a particular interest in problems of autonomy and consent, the use of human body parts, reproductive medicine and public health. The third edition of her book Medicine, Patients and the Law was published in 2003. From 1996 to 1998 she chaired a review into the laws relating to surrogacy. From 2001 to 2004 she chaired the Retained Organs Commission. She is currently chairing a Nuffield Council Working Party on Critical Care Decisions in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine.
Professor Ruth Chadwick is Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the ESRC (Economic and Social Sciences Research Council) Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen), Cardiff University, UK. She has co-ordinated a number of projects funded by the European Commission, including the EUROSCREEN projects (1994-1996; 1996-1999). She currently co-edits the journal Bioethics, as well as the online journal Genomics, Society and Policy. She is Chair of the Human Genome Organisation Ethics Committee and a member of the Medical Research Council Steering Committee on DNA Banking and the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP). She was editor-in-chief of the award winning Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (1998). She is a Fellow of the Hastings Center, New York. In 2005, she was the winner of the World Technology Network Award for Ethics.
Dr Cronin qualified as a medical practitioner from St. Bartholomew’s and The Royal London School of Medicine in 1996. In addition to such qualifications, she completed a BSc in Psychology and Philosophy, and an MA in Medical Ethics and Law at King’s College, London. Since completing her general professional training in 2000, she has worked within the North Thames specialist training programme in Nephrology and General Internal Medicine. As a result of such training, she has developed a specialist interest in ethical, legal, as well as medical issues, involved in organ transplantation. Dr Cronin is currently a Wellcome Trust Research Grant holder examining the global development and evolution of organ transplantation under the co-supervision of Prof. John Harris at the University of Manchester, and Prof. Robert Lechler at King’s College, London. Her research will explore the evolution of transplant biology and address ethical issues that arise from it, as well as altruism and commercialism in live organ transplantation in both the developed and developing world.
He is currently a Consultant Clinical Scientist Transplantation Laboratory, Manchester Royal Infirmary, as well as an Honorary Reader in Transplantation Science, University of Manchester. Dr Dyer has a BSc Honours (Zoology) (University of Nottingham) and a PhD (Zoology and Comparative Physiology) (University of Birmingham). He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. He was the founding chair of the British Society for Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics (1990); Member of ULTRA (1990-1998); as well as President of the British Transplantation Society (2002-2005). He has also served on various committees including the ethics committee of the Royal College of Pathologists, as well as the Human Tissue Working Group on the Human Tissue Act (2004-2005). His main research interests lie in organ and stem cell transplantation; the outcomes of clinical transplantation; pharmaco-immunogenetics; and organ allocation. He is currently researching genetic markers of immune response to organ transplantation, as well as humoral responses to organ transplantation. He has published over 150 papers in peer review journals in relation to such research.
Dr. Anne-Maree Farrell is a lecturer in the School of Law, University of Manchester. She holds BA, LLB, B.Litt (University of Melbourne); MA (NUI, Dublin), and PhD (University of Manchester). She was previously a lawyer in private practice specialising in medical malpractice, product liability and mass tort actions. She was recently awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship to examine EU policy-making and regulation in relation to the human body and its parts/substances. Her research interests are in EU/comparative health policy and law. Recent publications include 'Governing the Body: Examining EU Regulatory Developments in Relation to Substances of Human Origin' (2005) 27 Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 3-4: 427-437 and 'Is the Gift Still Good? Examining the Politics and Regulation of Blood Safety in the European Union (2006) Medical Law Review 14: 155-179.
Professor John Harris was educated at the University of Kent and at Balliol College, Oxford. He is joint Director of the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy (CSEP), University of Manchester. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Ethics. He is a member of various committees including the Human Genetics Commission and the Ethics Committee of the British Medical Association. He has been elected a Fellow of the Hastings Center, as well as the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. He has co-ordinated a number of projects funded by the European Commission, including BIOMED I (1994-1996); BIOMED II (1996-1999); and EUROSTEM (2004-2005).
Prof. Harris is the author or editor of fifteen books and over two hundred papers. He has published in most of the leading philosophical journals in his field including the Journal of Medical Ethics, Bioethics, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, The Hastings Center Report and Philosophy & Public Affairs. He has also published in many of the leading science journals including Nature, Nature Reviews Genetics, Science, Annals of the New York Academy of Science and the British Medical Journal. His areas of research interest include ethics and policy dimensions of genetics, biotechnology, transplantation, medicine, embryo experimentation, stem cells, genetic and other enhancement, disability, and biomedical sciences.
Dr. Mairi Levittis currently Deputy Director of CESAGen (ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Aspects of Genomics) at Lancaster University. She has degrees in religious studies and in sociology from Edinburgh University, as well as a PhD combining these two areas from Exeter University. Her research interests are in public understanding/perceptions of science, social and ethical implications of genetics andempirical bioethics. She is currently Principal Investigator on a project on 'Criminal Genes and Public Policy' (2006-7). She is also researching children on the forensic database for the EU funded INES project and working on a project in conjunction with NOWGEN (North West Genetics Knowledge Park) examining young people's ideas about human enhancement (Making humans better?). Recent publications include (with F. Tomasini) (2006) ‘Bar-coded children: should children be included on the England and Wales National DNA database?’ Genomics Society and Policy 2:1; and (with S. Weldon) (2005) ‘A Well Placed Trust? Public Perceptions of the Governance of DNA Databases’ (2005) Critical Public Health 15:4: 311-321.
Dr Salla Lötjönen is currently a lecturer in the School of Law, University of Manchester. She has an LL.M (University of Helsinki), M.A. (King’s College London), and LL.D. (University of Helsinki). She is chair of the Nordic Committee of Bioethics (2006) and is currently a member of the Ethics Working Party of the International Stem Cell Forum. She was previously a member in the National Medical Research Ethics Committee of Finland (1999-2005) and Secretary General of the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics of Finland (2001-2005). Recent publications include ‘Legislation on Biotechnology in the Nordic Countries – an overview’ (Copenhagen, Nordic Council of Ministers, 2nd ed. 2006); Ethics and the Humanities (ed. with Jaana Hallamaa, Veikko Launis, and Irma Sorvali) (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2006); ‘Research on Human Subjects’ in J.K.M Gevers, E.H. Hondius and J.H. Hubben (eds.) Health Law, Human Rights and the Biomedicine Convention (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV 2005.
Dr Navarro Michel obtained a degree in law from the University of Barcelona (1992), followed by a PhD (with Honours) in 2000. She is currently a lecturer in the Law School at the same university. She has teaching/research interests in civil law (contract law and family law), as well as medical law and tort. Although she has predominantly published her research in Spain, recent English language publications include ‘Advance Directives: the Spanish Perspective’ (2005) Medical Law Review 13:137-69.
Professor Price is Professor of Medical Law in the School of Law at De Montfort University, Leicester. He is a Member of the Leicestershire Clinical Ethics Committee, as well as a Member of the Advisory Board of the UK Human Tissue Bank. He is currently on the editorial board of Medical Law Review, and is Associate Editor of the International Review of Law, Computers and Technology. He was previously a member of the International Forum for Transplant Ethics and the World Health Organisation Task Force on Organ Transplantation, as well as Chairperson of the EUROTOLD Research Project Management Group, 1995-1997. He has particular research expertise in issues arising out of organ and tissue transplantation, and has published widely in the area. Recent publications include Legal and Ethical Aspects of Organ Transplantation (Cambridge University Press, 2000); 'The Human Tissue Act 2004' (2005) 68 Modern Law Review ; (as editor) Organ and Tissue Transplantation (Ashgate 2006).
Dr. Muireann Quigley is a medical practitioner, qualifying from the Manchester/St. Andrews medical course in 2003. She worked as a Pre-Registration House Officer in General Medicine and General Surgery from 2003-2004, and as a Senior House Officer in Accident and Emergency and in General Medicine from 2004-2005. In addition to such qualifications and experience, she also completed a BSc and MA in Health Care Ethics and Law (with distinction). Her current research interests lie in the areas of the ethics of reproduction and the reproductive technologies, genetics and rights - specifically property rights in the human body and its parts.
Helen Rickard has 10 years’ experience working with bereaved families and is a founder member and Head of Operations for the charity, the National Bereavement Partnership. Helen has been a lay member of the Royal College of Pathologists Lay Advisory Committee (2002) and was also a member of the working group convened by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath), The British Association of Paediatric Surgeons (BAPS) and the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM), which published The Future of Paediatric Pathology March 2002. Through her work with various organisations, Helen has organised and facilitated a large number of conferences, seminars and workshops for health professionals, coroners, coroners’ officers and other allied organisations. Helen is an experienced public speaker and has undertaken an extensive number of media interviews and TV appearances.
Dr Magi Sque is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Southampton. She studied nursing at Guy’s Hospital, London. Magi specialised in oncological nursing, working clinically in this field for 17 years at the Royal Marsden Hospitals, London and Sutton, and the Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada. Supported by a British Department of Health Nursing Research Studentship she completed a PhD at the University of Southampton in 1996. This groundbreaking work explored the organ donation experiences of 24 family members, using face-to-face interviews, and the attitudes, knowledge and organ donation behaviour of 2,465 UK Registered nurses, via a postal questionnaire. The work suggested that the organ donation experience could be explained by a theory of ‘Dissonant Loss’. Magi was subsequently a lecturer, for four years, at the European Institute of Health & Medical Sciences, the University of Surrey before returning to Southampton.
A member of the Cancer, Palliative and End of life Care Research Group, Magi leads research focused on the psychological and social issues concerning: organ donation, retention and transplantation, the role of family in end of life care, and the nature and quality of support given to them. Magi and her team recently completed work for UK Transplant which examined the reasons why bereaved relatives refuse organ donation. With Sheila Payne, she edited ‘Current Issues in Organ Donation and Transplantation’ Mortality (May 2006), as well as their forthcoming book, Organ and Tissue Donation: An Evidence Base for Practice. Magi has an international reputation for her work on organ donation. She was invited as an expert to attend the WHO and Zurich University Centre for Ethics, held in Zurich, July 2006, which aimed to establish global policy on cell and tissue transplantation to inform the updating process of the 1991 WHO Guiding Principles on Organ Transplantation.
Michaela Willis is the Chief Executive of the National Bereavement Partnership. She is a Non-Executive Director of the North Devon Primary Care Trust and served a three-year term as a Non-Executive Director of the Retained Organs Commission, this being a highly challenging but rewarding position. She is also a Member of the Human Tissue Authority. She has an interest in medical ethics and is currently seconded one day a week to Stafford university as an honorary lecturer on 'pathology and bereavement support'.
Linda Wright is a bioethicist for the University Health Network, Toronto (Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital) and a member of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. Linda’s particular areas of interest lie in the ethics of transplantation from living organ donors and end of life care. Linda studied Sociology at the University of Liverpool, and later undertook an MA in Social Work at McGill University, Montreal. She also completed a Masters degree in Bioethics at the Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, which was followed by a fellowship in clinical ethics at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. In addition to writing on bioethical issues in transplantation and healthcare ethics, as well as teaching bioethics at the University of Toronto, Linda is Chair of the National Organ Donation Committee of the Kidney Foundation of Canada and ethics section editor of the journal Progress in Transplantation.