Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

The Wellcome Trust: Leadership and partnership in biomedical research

Nature Medicine volume 5, pages 861–864 (1999)Cite this article

box 1

The Wellcome Trust now has an asset base of more than £12 billion ($19 billion) and an annual expenditure of some £400 million, supporting more than 3,000 researchers, at 300 locations in 30 different countries. Put in context, this means that the Trust supports between 10 and 20% of public funded biomedical research in the UK, while the UK's share of world biomedical publications is about a tenth1. In other words, we support about 1–2% of the global output of biomedical research. To maximize our effect and to fulfill our mission—"to promote and foster research with the aim of improving human and animal health"—we must be strategic in making our funding policies. To realize this effectively, the Trust needs to provide leadership, while acting in partnership with governments, industry and the biomedical community.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Dawson G., Lucocq, B., Cottrell, R. and Lewison, G (1998 ). Mapping the Landscape. National Biomedical Outputs 1988-95. The Wellcome Trust, London.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ogilvie, B.M. Philanthropic goals. Nature Med. 3, 1185 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. UK government and the Wellcome Trust shore-up British Universities. Nature Med. 4, 871 (1998).

  4. The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher education. Higher Education in the Learning Society. Report of the National Committee chaired by Sir Ron Dearing. (HMSO, Norwich, UK 1997 ).

  5. Cass, S. Wellcome Trust builds African research center. Nature Med. 5 , 253 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Rouse, R. Genome sequencers square off down under. Nature Med. 5, 471 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Dickson, D. Wellcome Trust funds new "Medicine in Society" program. Nature Med. 4, 542 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Independent Review of Higher Education Pay and Conditions. Report of a Committee chaired by Sir Michael Bett. (HMSO, Norwich, UK, 1999).

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank the Governors and the staff at the Wellcome Trust, and in particular J. Grant, C. Matterson, of the Trust's Policy Unit, and J. Kent for their input and comments on the article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Director, The Wellcome Trust, 183 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE, UK

    Michael Dexter

Authors
  1. Michael Dexter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dexter, M. The Wellcome Trust: Leadership and partnership in biomedical research . Nat Med 5, 861–864 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/11294

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/11294

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing