About Us

Alison Hall – Project Manager (Law and Policy) 

In her role as Project Manager in Law and Policy Alison Hall researches legal and ethical issues arising from the clinical and research use of genetic tests and other predictive biomarkers, as well as the governance and regulation of human tissue and personal data in the context of clinical care and medical research. She is also concerned with more general debates about the provision of informed consent, and determination of mental capacity, as well as the ethical principles which underpin these practices. Alison focuses upon how these issues are translated into legislation and professional guidlines, 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 a solicitor with a general civil litigation caseload, as well as a masters degree in health care ethics. She serves as lay member of Cambridgeshire 4 Research Ethics Committee and as secretary of the Society for Genomics Policy and Population Health (SGPPH). She is also involved in a number of working groups which are currently updating professional and regulatory guidance.

She recently co-authored a study of  the ethical, legal and social issues arising from the use of Cell-free fetal DNA technologies with Adam Bostanci and Stephen John from the Hughes Hall Centre for Biomedical Sciences in Society. 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. 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.