Wellcome Trust

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The Wellcome Trust's operations are run from two buildings on Euston Road in London. The Wellcome Building, at 183 Euston Road, built in 1932 in Portland stone houses the Wellcome Collection and the adjoining glass and steel building at 215 Euston Road is the Gibbs Building, by Hopkins Architects, which opened in 2004 as the administrative headquarters of the Wellcome Trust. In 2019, the Wellcome Trust also opened an office in Berlin.{{Cite web |title=Wellcome's Berlin office will focus on global health {{!}} Wellcome |url=https://wellcome.ac.uk/news/wellcomes-berlin-office-will-focus-global-health |access-date=4 January 2020 |website=wellcome.ac.uk |date=11 October 2018}}

The trust was established to administer the fortune of the American-born British pharmaceutical magnate Sir Henry Wellcome.{{Cite web |title=History of Henry Wellcome |url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/History/index.htm |access-date=16 May 2014 |archive-date=2 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402053114/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/History/index.htm |url-status=dead}} Its income was derived from what was originally called Burroughs Wellcome, later renamed in the UK as the Wellcome Foundation Ltd.Hall, A. R. & Bembridge, B. A. Physic and philanthropy: a history of the Wellcome Trust 1936–1986. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0-521-32639-7}} In 1986, the trust sold 25% of Wellcome plc stock to the public. Overseen by incoming Director of Finance Ian Macgregor, this marked the beginning of a period of financial growth that saw the trust's value increase by almost £14 billion in 14 years, as their interests moved beyond the bounds of the pharmaceutical industry.[http://briandeer.com/hard-sell.htm briandeer.com] Sunday Times investigation, February 1994]

In 1995, the trust divested itself of any interest in pharmaceuticals by selling all remaining stock to Glaxo plc, the company's historic British rival, creating GlaxoWellcome plc. In 2000, the Wellcome name disappeared from the drug business altogether when GlaxoWellcome merged with SmithKline Beecham, to form GlaxoSmithKline plc.{{Cite web |title=Henry Wellcome's legacy |url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/History/WTX052938.htm |access-date=21 May 2016 |publisher=Wellcome.ac.uk |archive-date=16 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316234202/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/History/WTX052938.htm |url-status=dead}}

The Trust funds or co-funds a number of major biomedical research initiatives:{{Cite web |title=Biomedical science funded projects |url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Biomedical-science/Funded-projects/index.htm |access-date=26 March 2016 |archive-date=3 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503022925/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Biomedical-science/Funded-projects/index.htm |url-status=dead}}

• Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a cohort study of children born in England during 1991 and 1992.
• The Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
• The Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron science facility in Oxfordshire.
• Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science Initiative (DELTAS), a collaboration with the Department for International Development (DFID) to establish cutting-edge research and training programmes across the African continent.
• The Ebola Emergency Initiative, a fast-tracked research programme with the goal of identifying clinical and public health interventions to counter the West African Ebola Epidemic.
• The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation/ Wellcome Trust Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory facilitates research into the genetic component of type 1 diabetes and is based in the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research.
• The Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative.
• The Structural Genomics Consortium, an international organisation focussing on three-dimensional structures of proteins of medical relevance with an emphasis on open data.
• The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a non-profit, British genomics and genetics research institute.{{Cite web |title=MRC Centre United Kingdom: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute |url=http://www.cggh.ox.ac.uk/?title=MRC_Centre_United_Kingdom#Wellcome_Trust_Sanger_Institute |access-date=22 December 2008 |publisher=Medical Research Council |archive-date=21 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521140920/http://www.cggh.ox.ac.uk/?title=MRC_Centre_United_Kingdom#Wellcome_Trust_Sanger_Institute |url-status=dead}}
• UK Biobank.

• The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, established in 1989 in partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.{{Cite web |title=Kenya and the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme |date=13 October 2022 |url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Biomedical-science/Funded-projects/Major-initiatives/Major-Overseas-Programmes/Kenya/index.htm}}
• The Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, was established in 1995.
• The Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies in South Africa, established in 1998 in partnership with the South African Medical Research Council.
• The Wellcome Trust-Mahidol University-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Programme in partnership with the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, researching in Thailand and Laos and was established in 1979.
• The Vietnam Research Programme and Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Also known as SDDI, this five-year initiative started in October 2005 with the remit "to facilitate the development of drug-like small molecules that address unmet medical needs." SDDI was based in London and managed by Richard Davis.{{Cite journal |last= |date=March 2010 |title=A Wellcome experiment in seeding drug discovery |journal=Nature Reviews Drug Discovery |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=178–180 |doi=10.1038/nrd3130 |pmid=20190777 |s2cid=7960795}}{{subscription required}} Through early 2010, SDDI had provided more than £80 million across 30 projects split between academic institutions and companies. To early 2010, all but one of the company recipients were either start-ups or spin-outs. In May 2010, an additional £110 million was added to the SDDI fund with the intent to extend the initiative for an additional five years.{{Cite news |last= |date=14 May 2010 |title=Wellcome Trust extends Seeding Drug Discovery initiative |publisher=TMRM |agency=AngelNews |url=http://www.angelnews.co.uk/article.jsf?articleId=9796 |url-status=dead |access-date=4 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114231852/http://www.angelnews.co.uk/article.jsf?articleId=9796 |archive-date=14 January 2015}}

The Wellcome Trust announced the need for at least $8 billion of new funding for research, development, and supply of treatments related to COVID-19.{{Cite web |title=Coronavirus, COVID-19 research and development {{!}} Wellcome |url=https://wellcome.ac.uk/what-we-do/our-work/coronavirus-covid-19 |access-date=29 June 2020 |website=wellcome.ac.uk}} Wellcome Trust collaborated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mastercard to fund the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, launching in March 2020 with an initial $125 million in backing.{{Cite web |last=Suzman |first=Mark |date=9 March 2020 |title=Announcing the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator |url=https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/coronavirus-mark-suzman-therapeutics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220118165008/https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/coronavirus-mark-suzman-therapeutics |archive-date=18 January 2022 |access-date=10 September 2023 |website=Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Au-Yeung |first=Angel |date=3 April 2020 |title=A Bill Gates-Backed Accelerator For COVID-19 Therapeutics Treatment Partners With Madonna And Mark Zuckerberg's Chan Zuckerberg Initiative |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2020/04/03/a-bill-gates-backed-accelerator-for-covid-19-coronavirus-therapeutics-treatment-partners-with-madonna-and-mark-zuckerbergs-chan-zuckerberg-initiative/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220118165740/https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2020/04/03/a-bill-gates-backed-accelerator-for-covid-19-coronavirus-therapeutics-treatment-partners-with-madonna-and-mark-zuckerbergs-chan-zuckerberg-initiative/?sh=54ee18948067 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |access-date=10 September 2023 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

In September 2019, Wellcome launched an initiative to reimagine research and improve the culture in which research is conducted. Current incentive structures and, as a result, culture and practices, prioritise publication outputs above all else. This is damaging people's wellbeing and undermining the quality of research itself.{{Cite web |date=January 2020 |title=Largest survey into research culture reveals high levels of stress and insecurity |url=https://wellcome.ac.uk/press-release/largest-survey-research-culture-reveals-high-levels-stress-and-insecurity}}

The Wellcome Trust plays an important role in encouraging publication of research in open access repositories{{Cite web |title=Wellcome Trust position statement in support of open and unrestricted access to published research |url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/node3302.html}} such as Europe PubMed Central (EuropePMC). The Wellcome Trust believes that maximising the distribution of these papers – by providing free, online access – is the most effective way of ensuring that the research can be accessed, read and built upon. In turn, this will foster a richer research culture.{{citation needed|date=September 2011}}

In 2016, the Wellcome Trust partnered with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to launch the Open Science Prize{{Cite web |title=The Open Science Prize |url=https://www.openscienceprize.org/ |access-date=26 March 2016 |archive-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831003837/https://www.openscienceprize.org/ |url-status=dead}} to "help develop services, tools and platforms that enable open content to be discovered, assessed and re-used in ways that will advance discovery and spark innovation."

In 2016, Wellcome Trust announced that it would be launching Wellcome Open Research,{{Cite web |title=Wellcome Open Research provides all Wellcome researchers with a place to rapidly publish any results they think are worth sharing. |url=https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/ |access-date=8 November 2016 |website=wellcomeopenresearch.org}} an open access publication system running on the F1000 Research platform.{{Cite web |date=17 October 2016 |title=Wellcome Open Research is now accepting submissions |url=http://blog.f1000research.com/2016/10/17/wellcome-open-research-is-now-accepting-submissions/ |access-date=8 November 2016 |website=Discussions – F1000 Research}} Article processing charges will be covered directly by Wellcome Trust. Papers from the system are now indexed in PubMed Central.{{Cite web |title=Archive of "Wellcome Open Research". |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/3196/ |access-date=14 June 2017 |website=ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |language=en}}

In the summer of 2015, the Wellcome Trust joined the Japanese government, 7 Japanese pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the United Nations Development Program as funding partner of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT), which funds scientific research and development for anti-infectives and diagnostics for diseases that primarily affect the developing world."Japan in pioneering partnership to fund global health research", by Andrew Jack, Financial Times, 30 May 2013{{Cite press release |last=Fund) |first=Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT |title=Japanese Global Health Fund Welcomes the Wellcome Trust and Sysmex Corporation as New Funders and ANA, Morrison & Foerster, and Yahoo! Japan as New Sponsors |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/japanese-global-health-fund-welcomes-the-wellcome-trust-and-sysmex-corporation-as-new-funders-and-ana-morrison--foerster-and-yahoo-japan-as-new-sponsors-300093066.html |access-date=8 November 2022 |website=prnewswire.com |language=en}}

{{Main|Wellcome Collection}}

In June 2007, the Wellcome Building reopened after refurbishment as a public venue, housing the Wellcome Collection, the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London and the Wellcome Library.{{Cite web |title=The Wellcome Library |url=http://wellcomelibrary.org/}} The aim of the Wellcome Collection is to enhance public understanding of medical science and history. The building contains gallery spaces, conference facilities, space for debates, drama and workshops, a café and a bookshop. The galleries show a small sample of works from Sir Henry Wellcome's collection, and host a programme of events and exhibitions. The Wellcome Collection and exhibitions are open to the public free of charge six days a week.{{Cite web |title=Wellcome Collection opening hours |url=http://www.wellcomecollection.org/visit-us/opening-hours.aspx |access-date=30 April 2010 |archive-date=25 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925231413/http://www.wellcomecollection.org/visit-us/opening-hours.aspx |url-status=dead}}

The Wellcome Collection and Wellcome Library are members of The London Museums of Health & Medicine.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

The Wellcome Trust runs an annual photography prize which aims to explore "the human side of three urgent health challenges". Judges in 2021 include Dr Dixon Chabanda, Sir Jeremy Farrar, Dr Katerina Srahulkova and Azu Nwagbogu. Winners in each category receive a prize of £10,000.

{{Main|Wellcome Book Prize}}

The Wellcome Trust sponsors an annual book prize, the Wellcome Book Prize, which "aims to excite public interest and encourage debate" around medicine and health.{{Cite web |title=About the Wellcome Book Prize {{!}} Wellcome Book Prize |url=https://wellcomebookprize.org/about-the-wellcome-book-prize |access-date=15 March 2017 |website=wellcomebookprize.org}}

In June 2019, Wellcome released the results of the 2018 global survey on public attitudes toward science and health. Topics include trust of scientists, doctors, and nurses; religion and science, and vaccines, among others.{{Cite journal |last=Branch |first=Glenn |year=2019 |title=Welcome News on Global Attitudes toward Science and Health from Wellcome |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=43 |issue=5 |pages=8–9 |author-link1=Glenn Branch}} It was Wellcome's first Global Monitor and was intended to "provide robust evidence on how public attitudes vary across different demographic groups and countries."{{Cite web |title=Wellcome Global Monitor |url=https://wellcome.ac.uk/what-we-do/our-work/wellcome-global-monitor |access-date=12 October 2019 |website=Wellcome |archive-date=3 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903230245/https://wellcome.ac.uk/what-we-do/our-work/wellcome-global-monitor |url-status=dead}}

In August 2014, the Wellcome Trust bought the Co-operative Group's farm business (renamed Farmcare) for £249 million. This comprised "15,997 hectares (39,533 acres) of freehold and third party owned land, 15 farms, including three pack houses, over 100 residential properties, and 27 commercial properties."{{Cite web |date=4 August 2014 |title=Wellcome Trust acquires the Co-operative Group's farms business |url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2014/WTP057030.htm |access-date=21 May 2016 |publisher=Wellcome.ac.uk |archive-date=23 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423225040/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2014/WTP057030.htm |url-status=dead}}

In 2015, the trust bought the Premier Marinas group.{{Cite web |title=Wellcome Trust acquires Premier Marinas Limited from BlackRock UK Property Fund | Wellcome |date=12 May 2015 |url=https://wellcome.ac.uk/press-release/wellcome-trust-acquires-premier-marinas-limited-blackrock-uk-property-fund}}

It has been reported that the Wellcome Trust has billions of investments in companies related to the problems the philanthropy wants to solve.{{Cite web |title=Private research funders court controversy with billions in secretive investment |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/private-research-funders-court-controversy-billions-secretive-investments|date=6 December 2018|access-date=19 March 2021|publisher=sciencemag.org|quote=The trust does not highlight, however, that some of the more than $1.2 billion it has handed out annually in recent years comes from investments in companies that contribute to the same problems the philanthropy wants to solve. Not long before the Hong Kong study was published, for example, the trust became an investor in Varo Energy, a company based in Cham, Switzerland, that sells fuel to shipping firms. One of Varo's main products is bunker fuel for marine engines: a cheap, sulfurous residue of oil refining that is a major source of soot pollution. Particulates billowing from ship stacks contribute to the premature deaths of 250,000 people annually, researchers estimate.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320112849/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/12/private-research-funders-court-controversy-billions-secretive-investments |archive-date=20 March 2021}} In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the trust has investments in pharmaceutical companies involved in the development and delivery of treatments for COVID-19, which means it has the potential to gain financially where those treatments are monetised.{{Cite journal |title=Covid-19, trust, and Wellcome: how charity's pharma investments overlap with its research efforts |year=2021|url=https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n556|access-date=3 March 2021|journal=The BMJ|doi=10.1136/bmj.n556|quote=Wellcome's financial interests have been published on the trust's website and through financial regulatory filings but do not seem to have been disclosed as financial conflicts of interest in the context of Wellcome's work on covid-19, even as they show that the trust is positioned to potentially gain from the pandemic financially.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320113021/https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n556 |archive-date=20 March 2021|last=Schwab|first=Tim|volume=372|pages=n556|pmid=33658184|s2cid=232105541|doi-access=free}}

The Wellcome Trust has been criticised for seeking to develop large scale housing estates on green countryside in the South of England as part of its investment portfolio.{{cite web |title=Urban Civic aquired by the Wellcome Trust |url=https://www.catesbyestates.co.uk/news-videos/corporate/urban-civic-acquired-by-the-wellcome-trust |website=Catesby Estates |access-date=4 April 2025}} Campaign groups {{cite web |url=https://ringmergreenfields.org/ |website=Ringmer against greenfield exploitation |access-date=4 April 2025}} consider that environmental destruction from overdevelopment, alongside concerns over the ability of rural services such as drainage, healthcare and education to cope with increased levels of development, is conttributing to the destruction of rural life and generating the type of mental stress issues the charity is supposed to be combating.{{cite news |title=Village behind Camberwick Green 'could be destroyed' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly479993w7o |access-date=2 January 2025 |agency=BBC}}{{cite news |first1=Zac |last1=Sherratt |first2=Charlotte |last2=Wright|url=https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/national/24832462.protesters-hit-housing-plan-village-inspired-camberwick-green/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHoxeFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHS6j98bMPtvzk8DqXkLYykGKrHotnnA_CMd4kGpsVHlK6CMqoB4KICmIDQ_aem_KAo1CsX_7c7apZsrxcWAxg#:~:text=Protesters%20hit%20out%20at%20housing,Your%20Local%20Guardian |publisher=Guardian Media}}

• Peter Williams, 1967–1991
• Bridget Ogilvie, 1991–1998
• Mike Dexter, 1998–2003
• Mark Walport, 2003–2013
• Jeremy Farrar, 2013–2023
• John-Arne Røttingen, 2024–

• Heads of International Research Organizations
• List of wealthiest charitable foundations

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{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Wellcome Trust}}

• {{Official|http://www.wellcome.org/}}
• [https://www.wtccc.org.uk/ Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC)]
• [http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Wellcome-Trust-websites/index.htm Other Wellcome Trust websites]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090922222810/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Education-resources/courses-and-conferences/scientific-conferences/index.htm Scientific Conferences supported by the Wellcome Trust]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070216033419/http://www.exmemoriafilm.co.uk/ Ex Memoria – Wellcome Trust Awarded Film]
• [http://www.channel4.com/surgerylive Surgery Live], a Wellcome Collection collaboration with Channel 4
• [http://www.escmid.org/ European Society for Clinical Microbioloy and Infectious Diseases]
• [http://www.febs.org/ Federation of European Biochemical Societies]
• [http://www.eufeps.org/ European Federation of Pharmaceutical Societies]
• [http://www.isid.org/ International Society for Infectious Diseases]

{{Wellcome Trust}}

{{Francis Crick Institute}}

{{Science and technology in the United Kingdom}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Organizations established in 1936

Category:Biomedical research foundations

Category:Foundations based in the United Kingdom

Category:Funding bodies in the United Kingdom

Category:Health charities in the United Kingdom

Category:Science and technology in the United Kingdom

Category:1936 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:British landowners