Prof. James Drife, has been Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Leeds since 1990. He is an Edinburgh graduate and held posts in Bristol and Leicester before Leeds.

He has been an elected member of the General Medical Council for ten years and is a former vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He edits the European Journal of O&G and is Medical Director of the UK Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths.

He has published widely in medical journals and writes regularly for the BMJ. He also writes song lyrics and has been appearing irregularly on the Edinburgh Fringe for 30 years. His wife is a GP, his daughter is a doctor and his son is a lawyer.

Dame Lorna Muirhead, Immediate Past President of the Royal College of Midwives, has represented midwives in many forums nationally and internationally. This includes being on the Council of the Kings Fund, being a member of the Senior Nursing, Midwifery Advisory Committee which advises Government on issues relating to midwifery, and being the RCM representative on the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Council.

Also a member of the External Working Group of the National Framework for Children, Dame Lorna has authored recent publications including Women at Work, and co authored the RCM/RCOG joint document Towards Safer Childbirth.

Awarded the Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for midwifery services in the year 2000, Dame Lorna became a fellow of the RCOG and Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores’ University. Lorna is now the Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside.