Christopher Jones

Who is Christopher Jones?

Christopher Jones is an American naturalist with a strong interest in health economics, particularly as it applies to improving outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. In early 2003, he presented a report, first to then-British Chancellor Gordon Brown and then in the House of Commons, that led to policy changes to the maximum allowable number of transferred embryos during the course of a woman's in vitro fertilisation treatment. The Times in London reported that Jones' report induced immediate action by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority but divided fertility doctors: half viewed this as a good policy from a public health vantage point, the other half viewed the move as over-regulation in personal affairs. Regardless, Jones showed in a co-authored letter that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine that twins are six-times more likely to occur following in vitro fertilisation, compared with natural conceptions, even when only one embryo was implanted.