Organ Donations from the Front Line – Dr Lorna Williamson OBE & Dr Tony Brown

Speakers: Dr Lorna Williamson OBE, Former Medical Director, NHS Blood and Transplant and Dr Tony Brown, Kidney Donor.

Synopsis: For most patients with organ failure, life of good quality depends on transplantation of an organ from a human donor, either living or deceased.  In this double act. LW will explore the practical, legal and ethical aspects of organ donation, and examine how scientific advances might change these. TB will then describe his experience of giving a kidney to a stranger.

Speaker biography: Lorna Williamson qualified in Medicine (with Honours) from the University of Edinburgh, and undertook specialist training in haematology in Nottingham and Sheffield. She was Senior Lecturer then Reader in Transfusion Medicine in the University of Cambridge for nearly 20 years, running a research group undertaking clinical trials. In parallel, she held honorary consultant posts with NHS Blood and Transplant and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, becoming NHS Blood and Transplant’s national Medical and Research Director in 2007, responsible for medical policy and research strategy.

Following her retirement from the NHS in 2016, she joined the Board of the Human Tissue Authority and became Director of Publishing and Engagement with the Royal College of Pathologists. She was a Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge from 1995 till 2009, and is still keen to support young women in science and medicine.

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