A prominent University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher has been named to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team.

R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist who has served on a federal panel on embryonic stem-cell research and on President Clinton's National Bioethics Advisory Commission, will review health policy for Obama.

Obama's transition office on Friday announced the names of people who will review departments, agencies and commissions of the federal government and the White House and provide guidance on policy and budgets.

Charo is one of 39 people on the Health and Human Services review team. She said via e-mail today that she could not comment on the appointment.

Leaders of the transition office have said recently that Obama is considering lifting the federal ban on funding new embryonic stem-cell research, which President George W. Bush put into effect through executive order in 2001.