Annual report : 1998 / Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

  • Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Date:
1998
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report : 1998 / Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In 1993, BWF received from the Wellcome Trust a $400 million gift that altered the Fund’s very nature. The gift enabled BWF to become a completely independent foundation, with no direct ties to its founding company. (Nor is BWF affiliated in any way with what has come to be Glaxo Wellcome Inc., which emerged in 1995 when the pharmaceutical company Glaxo acquired all of the Wellcome commercial holdings.) BWF stands as an independent private foundation whose mission is to advance the medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities. Aided by the Trust’s gift, the Fund now pursues an enhanced role in biomedical research in the United States and has expanded its support to include Canada. The list of individuals on both sides of the Atlantic who participated in instilling the Wellcome legacy in the Burroughs Wellcome Fund is a long one. William Creasy remained at BWF’s helm for more than a decade, guiding development of the Fund’s mission and scientific activities. William Dowling, who had developed the legal structure of the Fund, served as its chair from 1971 until 1974. George Hitchings, Ph.D., a Nobel laureate who spent most of his career with Burroughs Wellcome Co., served as BWF’s president from 1974 until 1990, and his leadership strongly reinforced the Fund’s belief in the essential link between basic research and practical applications in medicine (see page 96). And Howard Schaeffer, Ph.D., a pioneering chemist who chaired BWF from 1991 until 1994, played a significant role in helping the Wellcome Trust carry out its gift to the Fund. The importance of curiosity-driven research, as endorsed by Henry Wellcome in the early years of the century, continues to guide the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. BWFE seeks to accomplish two primary goals through its programs: to help out- standing scientists early in their careers develop as independent investigators, and to advance fields in the basic medical sciences that are undervalued or in need of particular encouragement. In carrying out this work, BWF is governed by a Board of Directors composed of distinguished scientists and business leaders, and its competitive award programs are directed by advisory committees composed of leading researchers and educators. Thus, more than a century after two enterprising American pharmacists set in motion their pioneering partnership, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund remains committed to the belief that fostering research by the best and brightest scientists offers the fullest promise for improving human health today and in the new millennium. The importance of curiosity-driven research, as endorsed by Henry Wellcome in the early years of the century, continues to guide the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
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