The White House on Wednesday (Jan. 16) announced the names of 17 people, including scientists, ethicists and theologians, appointed by President Bush to serve on the President's Council on Bioethics. The council met for the first time on Thursday, beginning a two-day gathering in Washington.

The group of experts will deal with such topics as embryo and stem cell research, cloning and end-of-life issues. "The council's paramount objective will be to develop understanding of the issues that it considers and to advise the president of the complex and often competing moral positions associated with bioethical innovation," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said in a statement. "Council members have been chosen not only for their specialized knowledge, but also for their thoughtfulness and their devotion to serious ethical inquiry."

The council chair, Dr. Leon R. Kass, a prominent bioethicist from the University of Chicago, had already been named. The White House said the additional council members are:

Elizabeth Blackburn, cell biologist at the University of California San Francisco.

Stephen Carter, law professor at Yale Law School.

Rebecca Dresser, law professor at Washington University School of Law.

Dr. Daniel Foster, chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.

Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins University.

Michael Gazzaniga, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College.

Robert P. George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University.

Alfonso Gomez-Lobo, professor of metaphysics and moral philosophy, Georgetown University.

Mary Ann Glendon, law professor at Harvard University.

Dr. William B. Hurlbut, consulting professor in human biology, Stanford University.

Charles Krauthammer, national columnist, The Washington Post.

William F. May, professor of ethics emeritus, Southern Methodist University.

Dr. Paul McHugh, psychiatrist-in-chief, Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Gilbert Meilaender, professor of Christian ethics, Valparaiso University.

Dr. Janet D. Rowley, professor of medicine, molecular genetics and cell biology, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago.

Michael J. Sandel, professor of government at Harvard University.

James Q. Wilson, political scientist at the University of California Los Angeles.