The Wellcome Trust
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London is home to the Wellcome Trust, the world's second largest independent medical charity funding research to improve human and animal health.
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 and with an endowment of around £15 billion, it is the UK's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research.
The Trust has established an amazing array of initiatives aimed at supporting research to increase understanding of health and disease, and to develop the use of that knowledge to create health benefits.
Through its support for biomedical and humanities research the Trust has developed a close and beneficial relationship with London's universities and other academic centres.
Over £80 million was awarded to London's universities last year to support research that led to breakthroughs in areas such as tropical medicine and the opportunity for clinical training in a wide variety of disciplines.
Three London universities also form part of a unique network of Trust centres for experimental medicine. Each institution focuses on a different specialism, including drug development, cancer and therapeutic mental illness.
The Wellcome Trust's international fund develops research capacity within developing countries especially in the area of health.
It also facilitates international collaborations and sponsors vital research on malaria and other diseases that cause high levels of mortality in the tropics with projects across Africa and South-East Asia.
The Trust's library offers access to an impressive and growing collection of contemporary biomedical information relating to consumer health, popular science, biomedical ethics and the public understanding of science.
The library has over 750,000 books and journals, an extensive range of manuscripts, archives and films, and more than 250,000 pictures. The library attracted over 30,000 visitors last year, including historians, academics, students, health professionals and artists.
The trust also funds the Centre for History of Medicine, which houses one of the world's largest resources for the study of medical history.
In its impressive new £30 million public venue, the Wellcome Collection houses a state of the art conference centre, a fashionable café and three exhibition areas that host major thought-provoking art exhibitions exploring the connections between medicine, life and art.
It is this combination of innovation, collaboration and celebration that makes the Wellcome Trust unique and offers London and its students such a valuable resource
Posted: Tuesday 9 February 2010