Wellcome Trust facts for kids
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| Founded | 1936 |
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| Founder | Sir Henry Wellcome |
| Registration no. | 210183 |
| Focus | Biomedical Research |
| Headquarters | London, NW1 United Kingdom |
| Location |
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Area served
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United Kingdom and overseas |
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Key people
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| Disbursements | £11 billion (1936–2015) |
| Endowment | £25.9 billion |
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Employees
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2,057 |
The Wellcome Trust is a special kind of charity based in London, United Kingdom. It focuses on helping with health research. It was started in 1936 by Henry Wellcome, who was a very successful person in the medicine business. He wanted to use his money to find ways to make people and animals healthier.
The main goal of the Wellcome Trust is to "support science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone." This means they help scientists find solutions to big health problems around the world. They are one of the biggest groups that fund science research, not just in the UK but globally.
Contents
Where is the Wellcome Trust?
The Wellcome Trust has its main offices in two buildings on Euston Road in London. One building, called the Wellcome Building, was built in 1932. It is home to the Wellcome Collection, which is a public museum.
The other building is the Gibbs Building, which opened in 2004. This is where the main offices for the Wellcome Trust are located. In 2019, they also opened an office in Berlin, Germany, to help with their work in Europe.
A Brief History
The Wellcome Trust was created to manage the money left by Sir Henry Wellcome. He was born in America but became a British citizen. His money came from his medicine company, which was first called Burroughs Wellcome.
Over time, the Trust started to invest in many different areas, not just medicine. In 1995, the Trust sold all its shares in the medicine business. This company later became part of GlaxoSmithKline, a very large pharmaceutical company.
What Does Wellcome Trust Do?
The Wellcome Trust does many things to improve health and science around the world. They support research, help improve how science is done, and share knowledge with everyone.
Supporting Health Research
The Trust helps fund many important research projects. Here are some examples:
- ALSPAC: This is a study that follows children born in England in the early 1990s to learn about their health as they grow up.
- Cancer Genome Project: This project, at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, studies the genes of cancer to find new ways to fight it.
- Diamond Light Source: This is a huge science facility in the UK that uses very bright light to study tiny things, like molecules.
- DELTAS: This program helps create top-level research and training programs for scientists in Africa.
- Ebola Emergency Initiative: This was a quick research program to find ways to stop the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
- Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory: This lab studies the genes that might cause type 1 diabetes.
- Structural Genomics Consortium: This group shares information about the 3D shapes of important proteins to help develop new medicines.
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute: This is a famous research center that studies genes and genetics.
- UK Biobank: This is a large database of health information from half a million people in the UK, used for health research.
Research in Asia and Africa
The Wellcome Trust also has special research programs in different parts of the world:
- KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme: Started in 1989 in partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
- Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme: Started in 1995.
- Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies: Started in 1998 in South Africa.
- Wellcome Trust-Mahidol University-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Programme: Works in Thailand and Laos, studying tropical diseases.
- Vietnam Research Programme: Works in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Finding New Medicines
The Trust has a special program called the Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative (SDDI). This program helps scientists and companies create new medicines for health problems that don't have good treatments yet. They have provided a lot of money to help these projects get started.
Helping with COVID-19 Research
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wellcome Trust said that a lot of new money was needed for research into treatments and vaccines. They worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mastercard to create the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator. This group helps speed up the search for COVID-19 treatments.
Improving Research Culture
The Wellcome Trust also wants to make sure that scientific research is done in the best way possible. They are working to improve the "culture" of research. This means making sure scientists are supported and that the focus is on good quality research, not just how many papers they publish.
Sharing Knowledge (Open Access)
The Trust strongly believes that research findings should be available to everyone for free. This is called open access. They think that if research papers are free to read online, more people can use them. This helps new discoveries happen faster.
They helped start the Open Science Prize to encourage new ways to share scientific information. They also launched Wellcome Open Research, where research papers they fund are published for free.
Public Engagement and the Wellcome Collection
The Wellcome Trust wants to help everyone understand more about medicine and health. In 2007, they reopened the Wellcome Building as a public place called the Wellcome Collection.
The Wellcome Collection has galleries, places for talks, and workshops. It shows parts of Sir Henry Wellcome's amazing collection of medical objects and hosts special exhibitions. It's free to visit and helps people learn about the history of medicine and new science.
Wellcome Photography Prize
The Wellcome Trust has an annual photography prize. It asks photographers to show the human side of big health challenges. Winners get a prize of £10,000.
Wellcome Book Prize
The Trust also sponsors a book prize called the Wellcome Book Prize. This prize celebrates books that help people think and talk about medicine and health.
Wellcome Global Monitor
In 2019, Wellcome released the results of a worldwide survey. This survey asked people what they thought about science and health. It looked at how much people trust scientists, doctors, and nurses, and what they believe about things like vaccines. This helps the Trust understand public opinions around the world.
Investments
The Wellcome Trust uses its money to support its work. They invest in different things to make sure they have enough funds for their projects. For example, in 2014, they bought a large farming business. In 2015, they also bought a group of marinas (places where boats are kept).
Criticisms
Sometimes, the Wellcome Trust has been criticized because they invest in companies that are related to the health problems they are trying to solve. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they had investments in medicine companies that were making COVID-19 treatments. This means they could potentially benefit financially from these treatments.
Leaders of the Wellcome Trust
Here are some of the people who have led the Wellcome Trust over the years:
- Peter Williams, 1967–1991
- Bridget Ogilvie, 1991–1998
- Mike Dexter, 1998–2003
- Mark Walport, 2003–2013
- Jeremy Farrar, 2013–2023
See also
In Spanish: Wellcome Trust para niños
- Heads of International Research Organizations
- List of wealthiest charitable foundations
