Gregory Pence

An experienced professor, Gregory Pence is known as one of the founders of bioethics and an aggressive defender of all cloning research.

One of the pioneering bioethicists in America, Gregory Pence has a unique point of view since he has seen many past prophecies of doom fail and is optimistic about biotechnology.

In a phrase: Pence believes his opponents are creating a new Age of Darkness.

He is nationally and internationally famous for defending cloning and genetically modified food against bio-Luddites and Nay-Sayers, who oppose research on stem cells and cloning. And because of his views, his talks have been picketed by Greenpeace and anti-cloning zealots.

His book “Who’s Afraid of Human Cloning?” is already regarded as a classic in bioethics for its rigorous attack on opponents of cloning.

His second book on cloning, “Cloning After Dolly: Who’s Still Afraid?” argues for the legalization of artificial wombs and trans-species hybrids. Pence notes that most people’s perception of cloning is based more on science fiction than science, and that anti-cloners draw false or irrelevant distinctions based on questions of human dignity and a religious view of the embryo as a human life. He argues that cloning is actually a biological imperative: we must develop cloning technology in order to survive the next plague. Cloning is the political powder keg of biotechnology today, and those in the pro-cloning camp will welcome this case against those they see, in Pence’s words, as “the new Puritans of biotech.”

Ultimately, Pence doesn’t think the sky will fall if a cloned baby is born. In opposing laws against cloning, he was asked to testify in 2001 before Congress and in 2002 before the California Senate.

Constantly in demand for national television, Pence has been interviewed on "Talk Back Live" with Bobby Battista, The Point with Gretta von Susteren on CNN, The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel on CBS, Wolf Blitzer's Washington on CNN, and several times on National Public Radio. He has also been interviewed by TIME magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Pence has given several high profile lectures, including  the Sounding Lecture at Castleton State College in Vermont, the Thornton Lecture at Alma College in Michigan, the Seidman Trust Lecture at Rhodes College in Memphis, and the Hughes Memorial Lecture at West Liberty State College in West Virginia. He has talked at Princeton and Yale. Pence’s talks draw thousands and are often featured on local television stations and in city papers.

A professor for over thirty years, he’s won every teaching award in teaching undergraduates and several awards for teaching medical students