Professor Richard Ashcroft has been invited to become a Fellow of the Institute of Biology in recognition of his work in bioethics and ethical issues in the life sciences.
The Council of the Institute awarded Professor Ashcroft the prestigious Fellowship at the end of December 2008.3
Reacting to the announcement, Professor Ashcroft said: “I am delighted at this honour. I look forward to being of service to the community of biologists in the UK.”
Richard Ashcroft, Professor of bioethics, is currently involved in various high-profile research projects funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on the regulation of biomedicine.
He has studied ethical and philosophical aspects of evidence-based medicine, participation in large-scale genetic databases, the use of ethnicity concepts in genetic research, and patients’ attitudes to the use of their personal information in medical research.
Professor Ashcroft, also deputy editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics, is currently developing research on the relationship between human rights and bioethics, and on ethics in international health.He is a member of the Ethics and Policy Advisory Committee of the Medical Research Council and the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee.