Donor conception: ethical aspects of information sharing

Rhona Knight (chair)

Portfolio GP based in Leicester

Rhona is a senior clinical educator at Leicester University, and is the clinical lead in the Royal College of General Practitioners’ (RCGP) Health for Healthcare Professionals pilot programme. As a GP she has been involved in teaching practical medical ethics for many years, including the ethics of professionalism, communication and of the consultation. She has an interest in making medical ethics accessible to non-specialist audiences. She is a member of the RCGP ethics committee, and is an honorary member of the Institute of Medical Ethics, and former chair of the Nuffield Council’s Education Advisory Group.

Wybo Dondorp

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Ethics at Maastricht University

Wybo's main research interests are in the ethics of reproductive medicine and the ethics of genetic screening. His background is in theology and ethics, and his professional life has included time spent in teaching and as a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. He has worked with the Health Council of the Netherlands, both in the past on the scientific staff (contributing to advisory reports on IVF and other forms of assisted reproduction), and currently as a member of the Council’s permanent committee on population screening. He chairs the Task Force Ethics & Law of the European Society of Human Reproduction & Embryology.

Jeanette Edwards

Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester

Jeanette is currently Head of Discipline Area. Her research has focused on kinship and new reproductive technologies in the UK, and she has also directed a European, and cross-cultural, project on ‘public understandings’ of genetics. More recently she has been developing a research interest in religion and biotechnology in the Middle East.

Susan Golombok

Professor of Family Research and Director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, and a Professorial Fellow at Newnham College.

Susan's research examines the impact of new family forms on parent-child relationships and children’s social, emotional and identity development, with a particular focus on lesbian mother families, gay father families, single mothers by choice and families created by assisted reproductive technologies including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination, egg donation and surrogacy.

Anneke Lucassen

Professor of Clinical Genetics at the University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine, and Consultant at the Wessex Clinical Genetics Service

Anneke's main clinical and research interests are cancer genetics, cardiac genetics and primary care genetics and she leads a research group that addresses the social, ethical and legal aspects of genetic medicine. Some of her main projects include: research on the familial aspects of confidentiality in genetics; childhood genetic testing; and incidental findings discovered through genetic tests. She is co-chair of the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust Clinical Ethics Committee and cofounder of the UK Genethics Club.

Sheila Pike

Senior Counsellor at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Fertility in the Jessop Wing, Sheffield

Sheila has a background in psychology and counselling, has been a specialist infertility counsellor for over 20 years and is a past Chair of the British Infertility Counselling Association. She has worked both privately and within HFEA licensed centres, counselling clients considering the implications of family creation using donor assisted conception and those considering donation. She also has extensive experience of counselling clients involved in surrogacy arrangements. She is a member of the National Gamete Donation Trust’s Advisory Council and an External Advisor for the HFEA.

Rosamund Scott

Professor of Medical Law and Ethics at the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics in the School of Law, King’s College London

Rosamund's background is in philosophy and law, and her research and publications have centred on reproductive ethics and law. She has had extensive involvement in interdisciplinary research with others and has just been awarded (together with Professor Stephen Wilkinson, University of Keele) a Senior Investigator Award in Ethics and Society by the Wellcome Trust to support a research programme on ‘The Donation and Transfer of Human Reproductive Materials’. Other roles in policy advice and engagement include membership of the MRC Steering Committee for the UK Stem Cell Bank and, previously, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Ethics Committee.

Laura Witjens

Chief Executive of the National Gamete Donation Trust

Laura joined the NGDT in 2003 after having been an altruistic egg donor. The NGDT works closely with patients, donors, clinics and other professionals on the issues around gamete donation. She was a member of the British Fertility Society Working Group on Sperm Donation Services and a member of the HFEA Donation Advisory Group.