career highlights
Emeritus Professor, Health Law, Ethics and Policy, University College, London
Visiting Professor, Department of Law, London School of Economics
Director and Trustee, Pathway (Healthcare for the Homeless)
Honorary Fellow, Staff College
Chairman, Independent Review of Response by Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to concerns about breast cancer surgery (2012-13), (Kennedy Review, HEFT, 2013)
Chairman, Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (2009-2016)
Chairman, Healthcare Commission (2002-2009)
Chairman, Bristol Royal Infirmary Public Inquiry (1998-2001) (Learning from Bristol, Dept. of Health, 2001)
Head and Dean, Law School, King’s College London (1986-1996)
Chairman, Nuffield Council on Bioethics (1998 – 2002), (Founder Member 1991)
Chairman, UK Research Integrity Office, UKRIO Ltd (2006-2013)
President, Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, KCL (1992-97) (Founder 1976) (The Centre was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Award for Achievement in Higher Education in 1996)
Reith Lecturer - Unmasking Medicine (1980)
Editor and Founder (joint) Medical Law Review, OUP (1993-98)
Qualifications and Honours
Barrister, Inner Temple
Honorary Bencher, Inner Temple
KC (Hon)
Fellow, British Academy
Fellow, University College London
Fellow, King’s College London
Fellow, Society of Legal Scholars
Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons (hon)
Fellow, Royal College of Physicians (hon.)
Fellow, Royal College of General Practitioners (hon.)
Fellow, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (hon.)
Fellow, Royal College of Anaesthetists (hon.)
Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (hon.)
Fellow, Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (hon.)
DSc (hon. Glasgow), DM (hon. Birmingham), DUniv (hon. York)
Education
University College London
LLB, 1st Class Honours. Jolowicz Prize for English Law, Hurst and Fitzgerald Prizes for English Law
LLD
University of California, Berkeley (LLM)
Yale University, Ford Foundation Fellow
University of Mexico (Diploma in Comparative Law)
Public Appointments
Panel of Appointed Persons, (Appeal under Medicines Act), DHSS, (1982-3)
Medicines Commission (1984 – 91)
General Medical Council (appointed by Privy Council) (1984 – 93)
Expert Advisory Group on AIDS, Dept. of Health (1987 – 94)
General Advisory Council, BBC (1987-91)
Polkinghorne Committee (Use of Foetal Tissue in Research), Dept. of Health (1988 – 89)
Chairman, Advisory Group on Xenotransplantation (1995-96) (Animal Tissue in Humans, Dept. of Health, 1996)
Advisory Group on Complex Commissioning in the NHS, Audit Commission (1996-97)
Register of Independent Members, Defence Scientific Advisory Council, Ministry of Defence (1997-2005 )
Chairman, Advisory Group on Rabies and Quarantine (1997-98) (Quarantine and Rabies,Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1998)
Advisory Committee on Medical Countermeasures, now Advisory Group on Military Medicine, Ministry of Defence (1998-)
Chairman, Bristol Royal Infirmary Public Inquiry (1998-2001) (Learning from Bristol, Dept. of Health, 2001)
External Adviser, Survey of Research at Porton Down, Ministry of Defence (2001-03)
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Standing Committee on Ethics (2002)
CJD Therapy Group, Dept. of Health (2002-04)
National Clinical Advisory Board, NHS National Programme for Information Technology (2003-2004)
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England’s Advisory Group on Medical Regulation (2004-2006)
Advisory Committee, Parliamentary All Party Health Group (2005-)
Chairman, UK Research Integrity Office, UKRIO Ltd (2006-2013)
Advisory Group on Human Remains, Natural History Museum, (2006-)
Chairman, Working Group on Regulation, Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board, (2007-9)
Chairman, Tackling Concerns Nationally, CMO’s Committee on Professional Regulation, (2007-8)
National Patient Safety Forum, (2007- 09)
Advisory Group on Quality of Care, Lord Darzi’s Review of the NHS, (2007-8)
Advisory Group on Constitution for NHS (2008)
NHS Constitutional Advisory Forum (2008- 09)
Transplant Task Force, Implementation Group, Department of Health (2008-2009)
Chairman, International Panel for the designation of Academic Health Science Centres (2009)
Consultant: Report for NICE on taking account of value, especially of innovation, in approving health technologies, (Appraising the value of innovation and other benefits, NICE, 2009)
Chairman, King’s Fund Inquiry into quality in general practice, (2009-)
Consultant: review for the Department of Health of the care of children in the National Health Service, (Getting it Right for Children and Young People, Dept of Health, 2009-10)
National Quality Board, Prioritisation Committee, Department of Health, (2009-10)
Chairman, Assessment Panel, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Units, Department of Health England, (2010-12)
Vice-President, College of Medicine, (2010-)
Director and Trustee, Pathway, (Healthcare for the Homeless), (2010-)
Member, Governing Board, NHS Staff College, (2011-2017)
Member, Expert Panel on PIP Breast Implants, Department of Health, (2011-12)
Member, Expert Group on Cosmetic Surgery, Department of Health (2012-13)
Chairman, Assessment Panel, Yorkhill Hospital Centre for Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Glasgow, Scottish Government (2011-12)
Chairman, Assessment Panel, External Review of Paediatric Cardiac Surgical Services at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland (2012)
Chairman, Independent Review of Response by Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to concerns about breast cancer surgery (2012-13), (Kennedy Review, HEFT, 2013)
Member, National Advisory Group – Hospital Mortality Outlier Investigations, Department of Health (2013)
Senior Consultant, Review of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, Bristol Children’s NHS Foundation Trust Hospital (2014-17)
Consultant, Review of practice regarding the collection of children’s hearts, Birmingham
Children’s NHS Foundation Trust Hospital (2014)
Consultant, Review of practice regarding the collection of children’s hearts at Alder Hey NHS Foundation Trust Hospital (2015-2016)
Other Appointments
Chairman, Nuffield Council on Bioethics (1998 – 2002), (Founder Member 1991)
BMA Medical Ethics Committee (1989 – 1998)
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Advisory Group on Medical Ethics (1992 - 2004)
President, Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, KCL (1992-97) (Founder 1976)
Governing Council, Committee on Publication Ethics (1997-2004)
Genetics Committee, Association of British Insurers (1997 – 2001)
Royal Society, Science in Society Committee (2000- 2004)
Royal College of Anaesthetists’ Working Party on Brain Death (2005-2008), (A Code of Practice for the Diagnosis and Confirmation of Death, RCA 2008)
Other
President, Bentham Club, UCL (2002)
Regent, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (2006)
Isaiah Berlin Annual Lecture, British Academy (2010)
Publications
The Unmasking of Medicine (re-issue with new Preface), Routledge (forthcoming 2023)
lower case leadership, Lulu (2022)
Death at a Crossroad (a novel), Lulu (2022)
Medical Law: Text with Materials, (with A. Grubb) Butterworths, 3rd ed. (2000)
The Unmasking of Medicine, Allen and Unwin (1981)
Treat Me Right, Oxford University Press (1988)
Medical Law: Text with Materials, (with A. Grubb) Butterworths, 3rd ed. (2000)
Principles of Medical Law, (with A. Grubb) Oxford University Press (1998)
Over 120 Articles and Papers
Editor and Founder (joint) Medical Law Review, OUP (1993-98)
Editorial Boards of nine national and international journals