Gareth Jones is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International) at the University of Otago, New Zealand, New Zealand, where he has been Professor of Anatomy and Structural Biology since 1983. Prior to this he held positions in the University of Western Australia, and University College London. He is a Visiting Fellow at St Edmunds College, Cambridge, and an Adjunct Professor at Liverpool Hope University.
In 2004 he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for his contributions to science and education. He holds the degrees of DSc and MD, for his publications in neuroscience and bioethics respectively. He is Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Government’s Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology.
His current research interests span a number of areas of bioethics, approached from the perspective of a biomedical scientist, with particular interests in embryology and neuroscience. As a result all his bioethical writings are informed by his science, especially as they relate to the dead human body, the uses to which human tissue and human material may be put, including plastination. Core issues include the moral status of the blastocyst, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), policy issues surrounding research using human embryos and the extraction of embryonic stem cells, the concepts of brain birth and brain death, notions of biomedical enhancement, and the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in ethical assessment.
Interests in the science-religion field overlap these bioethical interests. As a result, he speaks and writes in these areas, both from a specific Christian perspective and as an academic/policy commentator.
Recent Publications in the Bioethical Area
- JONES DG: Speaking for the Dead: Cadavers in Biology and Medicine. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot. 275pp (2000)
- JONES DG and SAGEE S: Xenotransplantation: Hope or Delusion? Biologist, 48: 129-132 (2001)
- JONES DG and GALVIN KA: Retention of body parts: Reflections from anatomy, New Zealand Medical Journal, 115: 267-269 (2002).
- JONES DG: Re-inventing anatomy: The impact of plastination on how others see the human body. Clinical Anatomy, 15: 436-440 (2002)
- JONES DG, GEAR R and GALVIN KA: Stored human tissue: An ethical perspective on the fate of anonymous, archival body parts, Journal of Medical Ethics, 29: 343-347 (2003).
- TOWNS CR and JONES DG: Stem cells: Public policy and ethics, NZ Bioethics Journal, 5: 22-28 (2004)
- TOWNS CR and JONES DG: Stem cells, embryos and the environment: a context for both science and ethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, 30: 410-413 (2005).
- JONES DG: The use of human tissue: An insider’s view. New Zealand Bioethics Journal, 3(2): 8-12 (2002)
- AV, GILLETT G and JONES DG: Medical Ethics, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 312pp (2005)
- JONES DG and TOWNS CR: Navigating the quagmire: The regulation of human embryonic stem cell research, Human Reproduction, online 16 December 2005.
Recent publications from a Christian perspective
- JONES DG: Valuing People: Human Value in a World of Medical Technology, Paternoster Press, Carlisle. 241pp (1999)
- JONES DG: The human embryo: A reassessment of theological approaches in the light of scientific developments.Stimulus, 8(1): 38-45 (2000)
- JONES, DG: Clones: The Clowns of Technology? Paternoster Press, Carlisle. 192pp (2001)
- JONES DG: Human cloning: A watershed for science and ethics? Science and Christian Belief, 14: 159-180 (2002)
- JONES DGÂ Human Cloning: To Fear or not to Fear? Affirm Publications, Tauranga, New Zealand 32pp (2004)
- JONES DG and BYRNE M (editors): Stem Cell Research and Cloning: Contemporary Challenges to our Humanity. An issue of Interface: A Forum for Theology in the World. Australian Theological Forum, Adelaide, 102 pp (2004)
- JONES DG: Embryos and people: The perplexity of our beginnings. Stimulus 12(4): 20-26 (2004)
- JONES DG: Designers of the Future: Who Makes the Decisions? Monarch Publishing, Oxford. 256pp (2005)
- JONES DG: The status of the human embryo and embryonic stem cells: Scientific and theological assessments. Science and Christian Belief, 17: 199-222 (2005)
- JONES DG: Neuroscience and the modification of human beings. In Future Perfect? God, Medicine and Human Identity (ed C Deane-Drummond and P Scott). T and T Clark International, London, pp 87-99 (2006).
