INNUAL /WEL 50 YEAR90F THE WELLCOME TRUST 1936 -1986 t;~~~~:··':.:_J~'·:~~:_':"'~ ._-, --- -, .-.l ~ \ Sixteenth Report ••• 1984 - 1986 1 Park Square West, London NWI 4LJ First published 1987 © The Trustees of The Wellcome Trust 1987 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Wellcome Trust. Cover designed by Valin Pollen Ltd., London. Printed by Cranford Press Limited, Croydon, Surrey ISBN 1-869835--D1-8 Sir Ilcnry Solomon Wcllcomc (I SS3·I '}J(,) Oil p aintin ~ by Sir Hugh Goldwi n Riviere. 19(1(, (We llcornc Institute Library. Lond on) On Wedn esday, ISth February 19i1 7, a serv ice was held in the Crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral to honour the memor y of Sir Henry Wcllcorne ( lil53-1936), patron of medical research and history and fou nder of the Wcll corne Tr ust. A memo rial tablet was un ve iled by Sir David Steel. C hai rma n o f th e Wc llcum c Trustees, FOREWORD In this memorable Jubilee Year, I feel justified in adding, for the first time, a short foreword to this special Sixteenth Biennial Report. It not only covers the work of the Trust during the past two years 1984-1986, but also reports on some of the Fiftieth Anniversary celebrations, of which the highlight was the visit by Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh. An excellent history of the Trust has also been written jointly by Professor A.R. Hall and Dr. B.A. Bembridge to mark the Jubilee. It is entitled Physic and Philanthropy and describes the Trust's activities since its inception in 1936. The last two years have been exciting ones for us. Not only has the Trust attained its fiftieth year, but the Trustees have put on the open market twenty-one per cent of their shareholding in Wellcome pic. I would like to express my own personal tribute to the work done by the Director, his staff and everyone associated with the Trust in achieving these important milestones. Chairman Sir David Steel BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chairman: Sir David Steel, DSO, MC, TO Deputy Chairman: C.E. Gordon Smith, CB, MD, FRCP, FRCPath Trustees: The Rt. Hon. the Lord Swann, FRS Professor Sir Stanley Peart, MD, FRCP, FRS Professor Sir William Paton, CBE, OM, FRCP, FRS I. Helen Muir, CBE, MA, DPhil, DSc, FRS Roger G. Gibbs Secretary to the Trustees: P.O. Williams, MA, MB, FRCP CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION AND POLICY 1 II THE TRUSTEES AND THEIR STAFF 11 III DIVERSIFICATION AND THE FLOTATION 19 IV 50 YEARS OF THE WELLCOME TRUST 25 A. Physic and Philanthropy 27 B. Thoughts on the Wellcome Trust 1963 - 1982 by Lord Franks 35 C. Fifty Years of the Administration of the Trust 41 D. 50th Anniversary Celebrations 49 V SUPPORT OF MEDICAL RESEARCH, SPECIAL FELLOWSHIPS AND SENIOR LECTURESHIPS IN THE U.K. 59 A. Senior Research Fellowships in Clinical Science 63 B. Senior Basic Biomedical Fellowships 71 C. Wellcome Senior Lectureships 75 D. Wellcome Lectureships 89 E. Research Training Fellowships in Clinical Epidemiology 97 F. Research Training Fellowships for Medical and Dental Graduates 101 VI SUPPORT FOR SELECTED SUBJECT AREAS 107 A. Mental Health and Neurosciences 109 B. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases 121 C. Veterinary Medicine 145 D. Vision Research 157 E. Clinical Research 165 F. Biochemistry and Cell Biology 177 G. Physiology and Pharmacology 199 H. Major Equipment 221 VII SUPPORT OF NON· TROPICAL MEDICAL RESEARCH OVERSEAS 227 A. European Programme 229 B. Other Overseas Awards 243 C. Travel Grants 251 VIII HISTORY OF MEDICINE 253 A. Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine 255 B. Units in the History of Medicine 263 C. Grants for the support of the History of Medicine 269 IX WELLCOME TROPICAL INSTITUTE 277 X MEDALS AND PRIZES 285 XI INDEXES 289 INTRODUCTION AND POLICY INTRODUCTION AND POLICY The central event in the past two years was the flotation of the Wellcome Foundation Ltd., (as Wellcome pIc) as a public company. This development was of such significance to the entirety of Wellcome's creations, that it is described in some detail in a separate section (see pp. 19-23). Here it is sufficient to say that in one jump it will raise the Trust's income from £20 to £35 million and therefore lead to many major changes in the programme, organisation and staff and accommodation requirements of the Trust. In order to make the process of change less sudden, the Trustees anticipated the growth by one year by using a considerable proportion of their reserves in the first year of this biennium. The budget for the two years was in 1984/85 £22.75 million, and in 1985/86 £30.4 million. The total of £53.5 million can be compared with £29.5 million over the previous two years. This scale of activity in Britain, where the Trust allocates most of its income, makes it the largest general medical research charity in Britain and com­ parable in size with the funds available to the Medical Research Council (M.R.C.) for support of research in the universities. While it is difficult to measure the actual contribution of various sections of the community to medical research, the figures from the Association of Medical Research Charities (A.M.R.e.) indicate that the charitable contribution is compa­ rable to that of the M.R.e. overall and about twice as much as the M.R.C. provides for grants to the universities. This is a change in balance which has begun to affect the whole organisation of medical research in Britain. While the government has failed to expand its contribution, the charities have grown and with it their significance. Whereas previously the charities could be classed as alternative sources of funding for university research, now they have become of such significance that some institutions are in the position of receiving the majority of their support from private sources and the balance from the government. Our universities and medical schools can be seen to be gearing themselves to this new situation and hence their attitude to donors has evolved. A report from the Advisory Board of Research Councils (A.B.R.C.) on the private sector funding of scientific research said: "Our conclusion is that there wouldappear to be somegroundfor looking to the majorfoundations for increasedcollaborative funding in the medical field but only in certain circumstances and, overall, to only a limited extent. It is clear above all that the foundations would need reassurance that Government was not looking to them to assume responsibility for meeting basicresearchneedsand wasnot seeking to enticethe foundations 3 into the formal Governmental funding mechanisms for such research. We respect the determination of the foundations to retain their independence, flexibility and diversity." On the other hand, the central role of the National Health Service on the clinical side limits the opportunity for developing academic clinical re­ search. The example of the Senior Registrar quota system in which the Department of Health and Social Security failed to recognise the level of input of the charities to academic medical training, forced the A.M.R.e. to develop into a charitable company in order to safeguard its members' interests which, of course, means the interest of the medical research com­ munity. What is apparent is that the long established system of negotiation between the universities, research councils and government, is now not enough as the government fails to provide the level of support necessary to maintain Britain in the front-line of medical research. This brings one to consider the overall turmoil that has continued to affect the academic medical world in the past few years. In medicine, this has led for example to the amalgamation of medical schools in London, Middlesex and Uni­ versity College, Charing Cross and Westminster, and the exploration of the future of the Clinical Research Centre and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School. The Royal College of Physicians feels the problem of academic medicine to be of such significance that it is preparing a report on the subject. In the report it draws attention to a variety of factors including levels of salary and career prospects. In the veterinary world this has also been a time of scrutiny and intros­ pection. There is a general opinion that farming has become so efficient that the need for more government investment in research is not apparent. As a consequence, there have been enormous cuts in the establishments of the Agriculture and Food Research Council and the veterinary schools are being examined to see how they may be cut down in number or amal­ gamated. Overall, a scene which has not augured well for veterinary re­ search morale and which is possibly reflected in the difficulty in spending the funds allocated to this field by the Trustees. While the flotation of Wellcome pic and the general political scene for academic human and animal medicine has been at the forefront of our minds during the past two years as we have sought to develop new policies for the use of our extra income, not far from the surface was the 50th anniversary of Sir Henry Wellcome's death on July 25th 1936. The cele­ bration of a golden jubilee is, inevitably, a time for reflection· on the 4 achievement of an organisation and so the Trustees were very pleased when Professor A. Rupert Hall, together with Dr.