School of Medicine, where he also
serves as vice chairman of the
Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology.
dvances in medical technol-
Aside from his pioneering work in
ogy have opened up pre-
selective
reduction, Evans is consid-
natal, neo-natal and genetic
ered
one
of the world's foremost
treatment possibilities that
experts
in
the ethical application of
stagger the imagination.
genetic and molecular medicine.
But they are part of Dr. Mark
Recently, he commented on the stated
Evans' everyday life as a physician at
plans of Chicago physicist Richard
Detroit Medical Center-Hutzel
Seed to clone human beings. Seed pio-
Hospital. Evans runs Hutzel's
neered techniques years ago for trans-
Reproductive Genetics Center, one of
planting
a fertilized embryo from one
the country's largest clinics for pre-
woman to another.
natal diagnosis and one of the world's
"The guy has no credentials in the
few fetal treatment centers.
field of genetics and no experience. It
"Patients are referred to us if there
is amazing that anyone is taking him
is a likelihood of a genetic or develop-
seriously," Evans said.
mental problem that could lead to an
"Seed presents the technology as a
unsuccessful pregnancy or a serious
treatment
for infertility, the creation
physical anomaly in the infant," he
of
clone
babies.
He is talking about
explained. "We can run a series of
making Adam and Eve in a jar. But he
tests on the mother and on the fetus.
misses the real value of developing
And if we find a critical abnormality,
selected types of clone tissue, and not
we have the capacity, in some cases, to
a whole individual.
treat the fetus directly and can fix
"Right now, fetal tissue is being
some of the problems."
used
successfully to treat patients with
An example: Evans performed a
Parkinson's
and Addison's diseases.
stem cell transplant on a troubled 16-
Cloning this type of tissue could lead
week fetus using its father's bone
to improved treatments for these dis-
marrow. The procedure was success-
eases."
ful. The child is now 2 1/2 and thriv-
Evans was reared in Brooklyn, the
ing.
son
of an Orthodox Jew who decided
Typical of the problems Evans and
to
raise
his children as Reform Jews.
his center treats are women with mul-
In
1973,
Evans completed his
tiple pregnancies. Twelve years ago,
undergraduate degree at Tufts
Evans pioneered a procedure called
University. Before going on to medical
"selective reduction" that reduces the
school, he served with a mobile army
risk of miscarriage and birth defects.
surgical hospital (MASH) in Israel, in
The procedure involves eliminating
combat circumstances in the Golan
some of the fertilized embryos in the
Heights.
uterus.
"When someone has the experience
Today, because of the increase in
of
sitting
in a trench, being fired on
fertility treatments, Evans performs
by the enemy, and then tending to the
about 100 such procedures each year.
wounded soldiers and civilians, he has
"I am not afraid to tackle difficult
to think about and deal with issues of
legal issues," Evans said. He and other
life
and death importance," Evans
plaintiffs recently prevailed in a law-
said.
"You have a sense of mortality,
suit that challenged the state's ban on
but
with
it, there comes a clarity of
partial birth abortions.
vision
and
of wanting to deal with life
"The law as written had nothing to
directly and not necessarily by the dic-
do with late-term abortions. It was an
tates of a book of rules.
attempt to make abortions illegal. The
"This way of being culturally
law's vagueness potentially eliminated
Jewish,
and dealing directly with the
85 percent of all abortions after the
elements
of life, is very common in
first trimester," Evans said. "What we
Israel,
where
the test of your character
all feared was that somewhere, some-
is
an
incoming
mortar round.
place, there was a prosecutor who
"As
a
result,
I
am still very involved
would have attempted to enforce the
in the historic and cultural aspects of
law as it was written." In August
my Judaism. These experiences gave
1997, U.S. District Court Judge
me the spiritual foundation for the
Gerald Rosen overturned the
work
I do today," he said.
Michigan law.
Evans
lives in Bloomfield Hills with
Evans, 46, is a professor of molecu-
his
wife
Wendy
and their children
lar medicine and genetics and patholo-
Kiera,
Shara,
Rufus
and Harry. O
gy at the Wayne State University

MIKE MADIAS
Special to The Jewish News

\\ .

• .•§,A.

Fertale
Mind

Dr. Mark Evans is
pioneering treatments for
fetuses and newborns.

•

1/30
1998