Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology

About Us

Members

• Sylvia Rumball (Chairperson)
• Gareth Jones
• John Forman
• Richard Fisher
• Ken Daniels (Deputy Chair)
• Mark Henaghan
• Andrew Shelling
• Ian Hassall
• Cilla Ruruhira Henry
• Maui Hudson
• Robyn Scott
• Richard Randerson

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Sylvia Rumball CNZM (Chairperson)

Professor Sylvia Rumball is assistant to the Vice Chancellor (Research Ethics) at Massey University. She has a PhD in chemistry and for many years taught chemistry and undertook research in structural biology at Massey University.

She has extensive international, national and local experience on ethics committees and ethics-related bodies through past membership of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee, the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, the Health Research Council Ethics Committee, the Massey University Human Ethics Committee and the MASH Trust Ethics Committee; current membership of the Ethics Advisory Panel of the Environmental Risk Management Authority; as past chair of the National Ethics Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction; and as current chair of the Massey University Human Ethics Chairs Committee.

Professor Rumball is also a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU) Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in Science, a member of the Massey University Council, an auditor for the New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit, and a member of the Board of the National Centre for Advanced Bioprotection Technologies.

In 1998 she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science, and in 2008 she was promoted to Companion. She is also the recipient of a Palmerston North City Council Civic Award, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Canterbury and a New Zealand Science and Technology medal.

Gareth Jones CNZM

Professor Gareth Jones is Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and International) at the University of Otago, where he is also professor of anatomy and structural biology. He qualified in medicine and neuroscience (BSc Hons, MBBS) at University College London (UCL) and has DSc and MD degrees from the University of Western Australia and the University of Otago, in science and bioethics respectively. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 for his contributions to science and education. He has published extensively in neuroscience, anatomy education and bioethics. His recent publications include: Speaking for the Dead: Cadavers in biology and medicine (2000; second edition, 2009), Stem Cell Research and Cloning (co-editor, 2004), Medical Ethics (co-author, 4th edition, 2005), Designers of the Future (2005), Bioethics (2007), and Tangled Web: Medicine and theology in dialogue (co-editor, 2008).

John Forman

John Forman is a parent of adult twins with a rare genetic disorder, alpha mannosidosis, and his family experience with physical and intellectual disability has drawn him into a range of health and disability sector networks over the past 30 years. He has also spent many years in disability support service provision, mainly in community mental health. Since the late 1990s John has focused on the development of patient/family support networks in New Zealand and internationally, with an emphasis on partnership with health professionals, policy agencies and researchers to promote prevention, treatments and cures for rare disorders.

He has volunteer roles on the boards of several local and international advocacy groups. His paid role is Executive Director of the New Zealand Organisation for Rare Disorders, where he advocates for the increased application of genome knowledge and biotechnology to control health and disability problems, with a sharp eye on the ethical issues to ensure safety for the patients and their families.

Richard Fisher

Dr Richard Fisher is a gynaecologist with a sub-specialty practice in reproductive medicine. He is a co-founder of Fertility Associates and has been an active advocate for infertile couples for 20 years. He is the only New Zealander to have been elected president of the Fertility Society of Australia. Richard is a member of a number of professional associations and is a member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand Inc. He is married and has four children. Richard brings a medical professional’s viewpoint to ACART, which is tempered by a recognition of the need for community involvement and decision-making in this area.

Ken Daniels (Deputy Chair)

Ken Daniels is adjunct professor in the School of Social Work and Human Services at the University of Canterbury. He was appointed to establish social work education and training at Canterbury in 1975 and retired in 2004. For over 30 years he has been actively involved in studying, writing, counselling and policy development in the psychosocial aspects of assisted reproductive technology (ART). His particular focus has been on the children and families that result from ART.

He served for nine years on NECAHR – the last three as deputy chair. Professor Daniels has carried out research in a number of countries and has been used as a policy consultant in several overseas jurisdictions. He has published extensively, and his book Building a Family with the Assistance of Donor Insemination is used by parents and professionals throughout the world. Professor Daniels is also chair of Richmond New Zealand.

Mark Henaghan

Mark Henaghan is professor and dean of law at the University of Otago and principal investigator of the Human Genome Project, Law and Ethics for the Future, which is sponsored by the Law Foundation New Zealand. The project has produced three major reports: Choosing Genes for Future Children: Regulating preimplantation genetic diagnosis; and Genes Society and the Future, volumes 1 and 2. Professor Henaghan’s primary research interests are family law and medico-legal law involving children.

Andrew Shelling

Associate Professor Andrew Shelling is head of the Medical Genetics Research Group, which is primarily interested in understanding the molecular changes that occur during the development of genetic disorders, focusing on infertility and reproductive cancers, but also including cardiac disorders.

Dr Shelling has a special interest in understanding the cause of premature menopause, and his research is internationally recognised for identifying genetic causes of this common cause of infertility. He initiated the development of a support group for women with premature menopause in New Zealand. Dr Shelling is currently deputy head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, and is extensively involved in teaching reproduction, genetics and cancer at the university. Dr Shelling has recently served as president of the New Zealand branch of the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and Associate Editor for the journal Human Reproduction, which is one of the leading journals in the area of reproductive research. He is a trustee for the Nurture Foundation for Reproductive Research.

Ian Hassall

Dr Ian Hassall is a New Zealand paediatrician and children’s advocate. He was New Zealand’s first Commissioner for Children from 1989 to 1994. His career has entailed working for children and their families as clinician, strategist, researcher and advocate. He is at present senior lecturer in the Children and Families Programme of the Institute of Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

Dr Hassall teaches the Master of Arts (Children and Public Policy) at AUT. He is a member of the Steering Group and Project Team for Every Child Counts, a coalition of child advocacy and service organisations, whose aim is to place children centrally in government decision-making. He is married to Jenny, is father to four children and grandfather to five. He is the Children’s Commissioner’s nominee to ACART.

Cilla Ruruhira Henry QSM

Cilla Henry grew up under the mantle of the kīngitanga movement, deeply entrenched in Waikato kawa (protocol) and tikanga (teachings). Hapū connections are Ngāti Wairere and Ngāti Hako Hauraki. Cilla is married with three children and five mokopuna.

Cilla is a Māori specialist consultant, Department of Corrections Psychological Services Hamilton, working with Māori inmates at Waikeria Prison, and a trustee of the Health Consumer Service Trust. She is the Māori Women’s Welfare League representative on the Care and Protection Panel for Children (Child Youth & Family Service), and on the National Council of Women New Zealand. Cilla is passionate about the care, protection and wellbeing of children.

Cilla was appointed justice of the peace (JP) in 1996, and received the Queens Service Medal for Public Service in 2003.

Maui Hudson

Maui Hudson (JP) lives in Rotorua, and his iwi affiliations are with Whakatohea, Ngā Ruahine and Te Mahurehure. He is married and has three children.

Maui has professional qualifications from Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in physiotherapy, ethics and Māori health, and currently works for the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR) in a Māori development position. In this role he is responsible for internal development, providing cultural and ethical advice to researchers, and establishing research relationships with Māori and Pacific communities.

Maui is the principal investigator on the Health Research Council-funded project Ngā Tohu o te Ora: Traditional Māori Wellness Outcome Measures, and has research interests in the area of ethics and the interface between matauranga Māori and science. He is a member of the Health Research Council Ethics Committee and has previously been a member of ECART and the Auckland Regional Health and Disability Ethics Committee.

Robyn Scott

Robyn Scott’s background is in both not-for-profit management and education. She studied at Wellington College of Education (now the Faculty of Education, Victoria University of Wellington) and Victoria University of Wellington before embarking on a career in primary school teaching and the teaching of speech and drama and music. From there she moved to managing a not-for-profit organisation, working particularly in the area of health support and health advocacy.

Robyn is currently executive director of Philanthropy New Zealand and is charged with leading and developing this key organisation that works to motivate and inspire philanthropists and grant makers.

Robyn lives in Wellington with her husband and two school-aged children. Outside work she enjoys a range of mostly family activities that tend to centre around children’s sport and cultural events, and also enjoys travel and reading. She is an alumna of Leadership New Zealand, having graduated in 2006.

Richard Randerson CNZM

Bishop Richard Randerson was born in Takapuna, and studied at Otago University in Arts and Theology. He later undertook post-graduate studies in New York City and San Francisco in ethics and socio-economics.

Ordained as an Anglican priest in Auckland in 1965, and bishop in 1994, Richard Randerson has served in a variety of ministries in New Zealand, USA, UK and Australia. These have included industrial chaplaincy, inner city ministry, social justice officer, a bishop in Canberra, and Dean of Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. He has played a prominent role in the media, speaking and writing on issues such as poverty and justice, race relations, peace and inter-faith dialogue, and social ethics. In 2000/2001 he was appointed by the NZ Government to the four-person Royal Commission on Genetic Modification. In this role he engaged in extensive consultation with the NZ public, both at open meetings as well as with Maori on marae. The inter-face between science, ethics and the public good was central to the Commission’s work. He is the author of three books: Christian Ethics and the New Zealand Economy (1987), Hearts and Minds – a Place for People in a Market Economy (1992), and A Word in Season – Reflections on Spirituality, Faith and Ethics (2008).

Bishop Randerson was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004.

Now resident in Wellington, he is married to Jackie, whose background is in marriage and high school guidance counselling. They have three adult children and four grandchildren.
Page last updated: 29 September 2009