About Us

Alison Hall – Project Manager (Law and Policy) 

In her role as Project Manager in Law and Policy Alison Hall has responsibility for the legal, ethical and social components of the Foundation's work. Her work incorporates issues arising from clinical, individual and research use of genetic tests and other biomarkers, the governance and regulation of human tissue and data as well as wider debates about the implications of genomics and personalised medicine on health systems, services and individual behaviour.

Alison is also interested in the burgeoning direct-to-consumer market for genetic tests and the regulatory issues that arise, as well as how issues such as informed consent and feedback of research findings need to be adapted to take account of new technologies and data sharing practices.       

Alison focuses upon how these issues are translated into legislation and professional guidelines, and her role includes responding to relevant consultations on draft legislation or emerging policy on behalf of the PHG Foundation. These interests are underpinned by professional experience both as a qualified nurse and solicitor, as well as a masters degree in health care ethics. She is involved in a number of working groups which are currently updating professional and regulatory guidance and serves as a lay member of Cambridgeshire 4 Research Ethics Committee and as secretary of the Society for Genomics Policy and Population Health (SGPPH).

She has recently contributed to the PHG Report on Genomic Medicine, co-written a paper on issues arising from cell-free fetal DNA technology, and co-authored a study of the ethical, legal and social issues arising from the use of cell-free fetal DNA technologies. Recent consultation responses have included submissions to the World Medical Association regarding the proposed amendments to the Declaration of Helsinki, to the Department of Health, the Ministry of Justice, statutory authorities such as the Human Tissue Authority and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and professional groups such as the General Medical Council.

Selected recent publications:

• Hall A, Bostanci A and Wright CF. Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using cell-free fetal DNA technology: applications and implications. Public Health Genomics (2010) 13: 246-255
• Hall A. Accessing genetic information: anomalies arising from the regulation of genetic material and genetic information in the UK (Ashgate publications) (Book chapter accepted for publication) (2009)
• Bostanci A, John S and Hall A. Ethical, legal and social issues arising from cell-free fetal DNA technologies PHG Foundation (2009)

Please visit PHG Foundation’s resources page for a list of our publications and other work by members of our staff.