Dr Imogen Evans

Biography

Dr Imogen Evans is the Clinical Research and Ethics Liaison Manager at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Head Office in London, a post she shares with Dr Joan Box. Her responsibilities encompass biomedical ethics, including preparation of MRC guidance on ethics for publication (e.g. the MRC guide, 'Research Involving Human Participants in Developing Societies') and for the MRC's research boards, and liaison with external ethics bodies nationally and internationally. Her remit covers ethics of research in developing countries: she has been actively involved in the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research from the outset, and is a member of the steering committee of an EC-funded project 'Networking for Ethics on Biomedical Research in Africa' (NEBRA). She acts as the first port of call in Head Office for ethics queries raised by research programme managers and other staff. Other responsibilities of the post include liaison with medical Royal Colleges, clinical research liaison, research integrity and the MRC Advisory Group on Public Involvement, and links with medical charities.

She qualified in medicine from the University of Ottawa and went on become a senior lecturer in endocrinology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, where she did her PhD in vitamin D metabolism. Turning to medical journalism, she spent many years at 'The Lancet' as Executive Editor (she can wax lyrical about semicolons). She is a member of the international advisory board of JRSM and regularly reviews books for that journal and others. As Vice-Chairman of the board of trustees of International Family Health, a reproductive and sexual health NGO, she has been involved in oversight of a wide range of activities in impoverished societies.She joined the MRC in 1996 with initial responsibility for cancer research and subsequently for clinical research strategy and research ethics. She has represented the UK government on the Council of Europe Biomedical Ethics Committee (CDBI). For CDBI she also co-authored a draft legal instrument on research on human biological materials; this was taken forward by a working party of which she is a member.