Susan Bewley is Emeritus Professor (honorary) of Obstetrics and Women's Health at King's College London. She was the first woman subspecialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the UK. Her particular research interests are severe maternal morbidity and violence against women. She chaired the Ethics Committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and ran Expert Working Groups on Ethics in O&G and Reproductive Ageing.

James Owen Drife is Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Leeds and was the Medical Director of the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths. He has been vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and was a columnist for the BMJ.