Lord Robert Winston

He is also Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, Chairman of the Royal College of Music and was voted “Peer of the Year” by his fellow Parliamentarians in June 2008. He is a member of the Council of the University of Surrey.

Professor Winston’s research led to the development of gynaecological microsurgery in the 1970s and various improvements in reproductive medicine, subsequently adopted internationally, particularly in the field of endocrinology and IVF.

His work on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis enabled families carrying gene defects to have children free of fatal illnesses. This included techniques to help families with sex-linked disorders, single gene defects (such as cystic fibrosis) and chromosomal abnormalities – for example, those causing pregnancy loss.

He is committed to scientific education and regularly writes or hosts popular science programmes for the BBC’s main channels and Discovery networks. Robert Winston’s activities in the House of Lords include speaking regularly on education, science, medicine and the arts. He was Chairman of the Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology 1999-2002 and vice chairman of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.

Robert Winston has published thirteen books for lay readership: “What Makes Me, Me” won the Aventis Prize in 2005, and “The Human Mind” was short-listed for the same prize in that year. “Human” won the BMA First Prize for the Best Popular Medicine Book in 2005. “It’s Elementary” was shortlisted for the Aventis prize in 2008 and “The Evolution Revolution” published in February 2009 followed in February 2010 by “Bad Ideas?”