Donna Dickenson was born in New England and educated at Wellesley College and the London School of Economics. Since obtaining her PhD in philosophy and medical ethics, she has held a number of prestigious academic posts in Britain and has served on many hospital clinical ethics committees. Now Professor Emeritus at the University of London, she has written twenty books, of which Body Shopping is the most recent. In 2006 she received the international Spinoza Lens Award for contribution to public debate on ethics.