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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Coordinates | 51°31′32.55″N 0°8′6.07″W / 51.5257083°N 0.1350194°W |
Area served | United Kingdom and overseas |
Key people | Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller[1] (Chair) Dr Jeremy Farrar[2] (Director) |
Disbursements | £11 billion (1936-2015)[3] |
Endowment | £25.9 billion[4] |
Employees | 2,057[5] |
Website | www |
The Wellcome Trust is a biomedical research charity based in London. It was established in 1936. The money came from legacies of the pharmaceutical magnate Sir Henry Wellcome. Its purpose is to fund research to improve human and animal health.
The Trust aims to "achieve extraordinary improvements in health by supporting the brightest minds". In addition to funding biomedical research, it supports the public understanding of science. It has an endowment of £23.2 billion (2017) making it the second wealthiest charitable foundation in the world (the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the richest).[4][6]
The Trust has been described by the Financial Times as the United Kingdom's largest provider of non-governmental funding for scientific research. It is one of the largest providers in the world.[7]