WELLCOME - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Employee Director and Open Research Specialist
- Open Research Specialist
Alongside her role as a Open Research Specialist, Aki is one of Wellcome's Employee Directors. In this role Aki works to ensure that ELT benefits from the broadest range of perspectives, experiences and skills from teams across Wellcome.
Job Titles:
- Director of Climate and Health
Alan leads the Climate and Health team in the delivery of Wellcome's strategy in this new challenge area. He joined Wellcome in January 2022 to lead an ambitious new Climate and Health strategy that seeks to put health at the heart of global climate change action.
For the past 20 years, Alan worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) where he was Professor of Food and Nutrition for Global Health. At LSHTM, Alan led an interdisciplinary team working on the interconnections between environmental change, food systems and health and was the Director of the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health.
Alan has substantial experience working internationally and with government partners - he was a Senior Research Fellow for the UK Department for International Development and an Expert Advisor for the Environmental Audit Office of the UK Parliament.
Outside work, Alan spends more time than is probably healthy baking bread and walking in the Welsh countryside pretending to be able to identify birds.
Job Titles:
- Director of Infectious Disease
Alexander leads the Infectious Disease team at Wellcome, a global charitable foundation which supports science to solve urgent health challenges.
With an extensive background in molecular microbiology and translational medicine, Alex leads Wellcome's work on infectious disease, supporting research into ways to reduce the risks and impacts of infectious disease globally.
Alex joined Wellcome from Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson where he led the discovery and development of new drugs for tuberculosis (TB) and related diseases. Alexander spent his early career working as a doctor in rural South Africa, where he led the district TB control program. After working on some of the first HIV clinical trials of HAART in London he completed a PhD in Molecular Microbiology at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, supported by a Wellcome Research Fellowship. He went on to spend over a decade in South Africa working initially on clinical drug development at the South African Medical Research Council, before leading a translational research group at AHRI.
Job Titles:
- Director of Research Funding
Alyson Fox joined Wellcome in November 2010. She has responsibility for the management and governance of our grant funding and review processes.
Before Wellcome, she pursued a research career, at University College London and Imperial College, and then in the pharma industry. Alyson spent 13 years working in drug discovery at Novartis, ultimately leading a therapeutic area responsible for a portfolio of projects from target discovery and preclinical development to clinical trials.
She has experience in neuroscience, respiratory and gastrointestinal research areas.
Arup K. Chakraborty is one of 12 Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is the highest honour awarded to a faculty member. He is also Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry. He was the founding director of MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science.
With a background in chemical engineering, Arup's focus is on the intersection between immunology, physics and engineering. His work aims to help develop better vaccines and therapies by examining how the immune system works to combat pathogens. He is particularly interested in the human immune response to highly mutable pathogens such as HIV and influenza. He has also made significant contributions to the role of phase separation in transcription. Working with collaborators, his interdisciplinary lab at MIT brings together computational studies rooted in statistical physics with clinical and experimental investigation.
He is a member of all three branches of the US National Academies: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine.
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategy Officer
- Author
Beth joined Wellcome in 2009. She became interim Chief Strategy Officer in 2022 and Chief Strategy Officer in 2023, responsible for the work of the strategy and programme office, government relations and strategic partnerships, policy, and transition and legacy teams.
Job Titles:
- Author
- Chief Research Programmes Officer
Cheryl Moore is Chief Research Programmes Officer, leading a broad interlinked portfolio that focuses on discovery research and three urgent health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. She is a strategic leader who is passionate about the role of science in improving human health.
Chris Bird - Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal Officer
- Senior Legal Adviser
Chris Bird is Wellcome's senior legal adviser, and is responsible for managing all the legal needs of Wellcome and its subsidiaries.
During his time here, Chris has been involved in and led some of our highest profile projects and policy interests.
Before joining Wellcome in 2000, Chris was an Associate Solicitor with Osborne Clarke LLP.
Cilla Snowball has had a long career in advertising, including 26 years at the creative agency AMV BBDO, where she was Group CEO and Group Chairman, and pivotal in making it one of the most successful advertising agencies in the UK.
She has chaired the Women's Business Council, the GREAT Private Sector Council, acted as a trustee of Comic Relief, and is a Non-Executive Director at the property investment and development company Derwent London plc.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chair of the Court of Directors
Diana Noble is Deputy Chair of the Court of Directors at the Bank of England. She is the founder of Kirkos Partners, an advisor to leaders of private equity firms.
Diana was the CEO of CDC, the UK's £5 billion development finance institution, from 2011 to 2017.
Prior to this she was EVP Operations in the Clinton Foundation's Health Access Initiative where she was responsible for 43 countries, five global teams and oversaw the scale-up of a global programme to give children access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment equal to that available to adults.
Diana has diverse Board experience, including chairing the Board of Trustees of the Children's Society. She also chaired the Bank of England's review into Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation Board, and Co - Chair of the WHO / World Bank Global Pandemic Preparedness Monitoring Board
Elhadj As Sy is the Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation Board, and Co-chair of the WHO/World Bank Global Pandemic Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB). In addition to these functions, Mr. Sy is also a member of the Governing Board of Interpeace and serves on numerous other boards and organisations.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology
Fiona's research is focused on interactions between the intestinal microbiome and the immune system. She identified the role of regulatory T cells in controlling intestinal inflammation and established the cytokine IL-23 as a therapeutic target in inflammatory bowel disease. She is particularly interested in translating basic research into clinical application. She leads the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre's Gastroenterology and Mucosal Immunology theme and recently established the Accelerated Therapy for Arthritis Programme, a clinical research network designed to increase the testing of novel therapies in the clinic.
She serves on a number of scientific advisory boards including the Lister Institute, the Imagine Institute in Paris and the Evergrande Centre in Boston. She received the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2012 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2011, EMBO in 2013, the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2014 and the US National Academy of Sciences in 2020.
Fiona Powrie is Director of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford. She gained a PhD in immunology from the University of Oxford and then moved to the DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto. She returned to the University of Oxford in 1996 where she was the Sidney Truelove Professor of Gastroenterology and Head of the Translational Gastroenterology Unit from 2009-2014.
Gabriel Leung is Executive Director (Charities and Community) of Hong Kong Jockey Club overseeing its Charities Trust. Previously, he was the longest-serving Dean of Medicine and inaugural Helen and Francis Zimmern Professor in Population Health at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is one of Asia's leading epidemiologists, with extensive experience in viral epidemics.
Gabriel's career has spanned academia, public service and philanthropy. Previously, he was Head of Community Medicine at HKU, and Hong Kong's first Under Secretary for Food and Health. He also served as the youngest ever Director of the Office of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
He is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine and was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the Government of Hong Kong.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at UCL
Ijeoma Uchegbu is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at UCL (University College London), a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Oxford Centre for Drug Delivery Devices at the University of Oxford. She is also the Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder of Nanomerics, a speciality pharmaceutical company that seeks to create better medicines by enhancing and repurposing existing drugs.
Ijeoma has a background in physical science, which informs her work stretching from the molecular design of pharmaceuticals through to how these products work in the real world. Her research team has successfully designed nanosystems which deliver genes to tumours and facilitate the oral absorption of hydrophobic drugs.
Starting her career as a pharmacist in Nigeria, she later went on to study for a PhD from the School of Pharmacy, University of London. Ijeoma also has well-established experience of working in an advisory capacity on race equality as Co-chair of UCL's Race Equality Steering Group and UCL Provost's envoy for Race Equality.
She is a Council member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2012, she was awarded Scientist of the Year by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
James Thomas joined Wellcome in April 2016. He is responsible for leadership of our technology and digital services.
Before Wellcome, James had an extensive career in the private and public sectors, delivering transformational change through technology and data.
His career began in the oil and water industries, with BP and Veolia. He moved to global technology provider Oracle to develop and lead technology consulting services for clients, including banking, defence and manufacturing.
He then moved into healthcare, with technology leadership roles in the NHS. This included eight years as a Director of UCL Hospitals, establishing UCL Partners, London NHS Procurement Partnership and the UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre. Following this, James became an Associate Partner at Atos Consulting, including working with Genomics England to review its Informatics and bioinformatics capabilities.
Job Titles:
- Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer
Jimmy joined Wellcome in 2023 as Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer and leads our work to become an inclusive funder. He works in partnership with the whole executive leadership team to support Wellcome in becoming an inclusive employer.
John-Arne joined Wellcome as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in January 2024 and leads the charitable foundation's mission to support science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone.
The first woman to serve as Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister (2007-2013), Julia was central to the successful management of Australia's economy following the global financial crisis. She delivered nation-changing policies, including the reform of education, emissions trading, and the provision and sustainability of healthcare. In 2017, Julia was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia.
Julia was the Chair of Global Partnership for Education from 2014-2021. She now leads the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care in South Australia. In 2014, Julia joined the Board of Beyond Blue, Australia's leading mental health awareness body.
In April 2018, she was appointed Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London. She is also Patron of Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education.
Prior to entering the Australian Federal Parliament, Julia worked as an industrial relations lawyer, and as Chief of Staff to the Premier of Victoria, Australia.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer ( Interim )
Karen joined Wellcome in autumn 2015. Her responsibilities include ensuring the best possible operating position for Wellcome in relation to financial planning, reporting and cost management.
Kathy Poole joined Wellcome in August 2018 and leads the People Department.
Working in collaboration with leaders, teams and individuals across the business, she is focused on creating the conditions for our people that will ensure our ideas thrive and deliver against our global ambitions. As part of making sure that the best and most far-reaching ideas are developed and implemented, Kathy is committed to bringing about true diversity and inclusion within Wellcome and beyond our borders where we have influence.
After graduating from Imperial College with a Master's in Organisational Design, Kathy has spent her career within HR in a variety of different organisations including British Airways and Channel 4.
Outside Wellcome, Kathy is a member of the Board of Governors for the Institute of Employment Studies.
Job Titles:
- Head of Impacts and Adaptation
- Visiting Professor at the Centre for Health Informatics
Madeleine has over 25 years of research experience focused on large-scale, climate-sensitive, health interventions in Low- and Middle-income Countries.
Prior to joining Wellcome, Madeleine worked as Senior Research Scientist at The International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University, where she directed the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on ‘Malaria Early Warning Systems and other Climate Sensitive Diseases'. She was also a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health.
Her research has involved the development of new data, methodologies and tools for improving climate-sensitive health interventions with a focus on infectious disease, public health outcomes of hydrometeorological disasters and nutrition.
Madeleine is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Health Informatics, Computing and Statistics at Lancaster University Medical School.
Job Titles:
- Director of Corporate Affairs
Mark Henderson leads all aspects of our communications and public engagement, with a particular focus on building and sustaining trust, influence and Wellcome's reputation so that our work contributes more to health and society.
His team's responsibilities include public engagement, brand, media relations, digital products, content, campaigns, design and understanding our audiences.
Mark joined Wellcome in 2012. Before that, he had a 15-year career in journalism at The Times of London, where he was Science Editor and won several awards for his reporting.
He has written two books: 'The Geek Manifesto: Why Science Matters', which explores the relationship between science and politics, and '50 Genetics Ideas You Really Need to Know'. He is an avid skier.
Job Titles:
- Author
- Director of Discovery Research
Michael is responsible for developing, managing and overseeing an exciting and world-leading portfolio of research at Wellcome. Before taking on the role of Director of Discovery Research he led the management of Wellcome's Genetics and Molecular Sciences portfolio.
His major areas of focus are to ensure scientists at all stages of their careers are supported to answer some of the most challenging questions relevant to life, health and wellbeing, and to oversee the development of strategic initiatives where Wellcome has an opportunity to transform particular areas of research.
Having obtained a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, he went on to work on the genetics of type 1 diabetes at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford and the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research.
Our new funding will support bold and creative discovery research to improve health
Job Titles:
- Author
- Director of Mental Health
- Professor in Evidence Based Research and Practice at University College London
Miranda joined Wellcome in 2019 to oversee a £200 million programme to help develop a new generation of treatments and approaches for young people with anxiety and depression. Her role was expanded in 2020, and she now leads all of Wellcome's work on mental health, where our vision is of a world where no one is held back by mental health problems.
Miranda is also Professor in Evidence Based Research and Practice at University College London (UCL). She founded the Evidence Based Practice Unit dedicated to bridging research and practice in youth mental health. Between 2012 and 2019, she was NHS England's National Informatics Advisor for Children and Young People's Mental Health.
Job Titles:
- Head of Capacity and Field Development
Modi is Head of Capacity and Field Development for Climate and Health at the Wellcome Trust, where she is leading the programme of research to advance science-based solutions for climate change and health.
She joined Wellcome in 2018 as Senior Science Lead for Food Systems in the Our Planet, Our Health Programme. She has a particular interest in agenda-setting and implementation research as well as research approaches which involve co-production with policymakers and practitioners and help to strengthen capacity in low- and middle-income countries.
Prior to Wellcome, Modi was Director of Policy and Global Health at the UK Health Forum. She spent over 15 years focused on research, advocacy, and policy-development for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in UK, European and WHO/UN institutions. As NCDs are the main health benefits of climate change mitigation actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this led her to transition into Climate & Health over time.
Modi was a member of the UN Food Summit's Action Track 2 Leadership team and her advisory roles include the EAT Foundation board and BBC Rural Affairs Committee. She is a Registered Nutritionist and studied public health policy processes during her Doctorate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
In her spare time Modi loves to knit, bake and cycle. She's also a novice gardener.
Job Titles:
- Interim Chief Finance Officer
Richard joined Wellcome in 2015. He is the Interim Chief Finance Officer, responsible for leadership of Wellcome's financial planning, reporting and cost management.
As part of his role, Richard maintains Wellcome's financial controls, ensuring our finance systems are robust and driving the quality of our financial reporting, tax reporting and risk management.
He is also a part-time Chief Finance Officer at Protas, a non-profit organisation with a mission to reduce the burden of common diseases by transforming the way clinical trials are conducted.
Richard Gillingwater has had a career in finance, has set up and ran UK Government Investments, created to manage the government's state-owned businesses, and chaired the UK's development finance business, CDC, investing in Africa and Asia. He has also served as Dean of Cass Business School and as Chair of the Open University and has wide board experience.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Employee
- Associate General Counsel, Commercial
Alongside her role as Associate General Counsel, Commercial, Sabien is one of Wellcome's Employee Directors. As Employee Director Sabien contributes to all the conversations and decisions made by ELT, helping to achieve our mission of supporting science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone.