Former chair of the British Fertility Society awarded MBE

Professor Alison Murdoch has been awarded an MBE in the King's New Year Honours List for services to fertility treatment.

Professor Murdoch, now retired, was a consultant gynaecologist and professor of reproductive medicine at Newcastle University. She was a pioneer in embryo research and, alongside Professor Mary Herbert, Professor Murdoch derived the first embryonic stem cell line in the UK. In 2004, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority granted Professor Murdoch and her colleague Dr Miodrag Stojkavic the first UK licence to clone human embryos for research (see BioNews 271).

Professor Murdoch was also a key figure in national debates surrounding ethical embryo research and regulation and was influential in the development of mitochondrial donation.

'[Professor Murdoch] has been at the forefront of challenging ethical issues such as human stem cell research and mitochondrial donation,' the award details say, according to Chronicle Live. 'She led on these issues nationally and this has had important consequences for patients, as shown by the fact that Newcastle remains the only fertility centre in the UK with a clinical licence for mitochondrial donation.'

The UK became the first country in the world to permit the technique in 2015, allowing women with mitochondrial disorders to have biological children without passing on faulty mitochondria, which can cause serious genetic diseases (see BioNews 605 and 826).

Professor Murdoch was previously chair and president of the British Fertility Society, and head of the Newcastle Fertility Centre for Life, having originally established the clinic in the 1980s.

'Infertility was not considered a medical problem so there were no resources. It was an uphill struggle to get the service established,' she told the Hexham Courant. 'Managing to keep that as an NHS-based unit providing services for people throughout the North East would be the achievement I'm most proud of... There have been thousands of babies born over the years as a result of that and the unit is still flourishing, even though I retired from clinical practice seven years ago.'

The New Year Honours List also recognised Jayne Hughes, founder of the charity Amy and Friends which supports families of children with rare DNA repair disorders including Cockayne syndrome. Hughes was awarded an BEM 'for services to children with rare disorders and their families'.