Appointment of Chairman-designate
The Wellcome Trust is delighted to announce that Sir William ('Bill') Castell has been appointed as a Governor and Chairman-designate of the Board of Governors of the Trust. He will join the Board in January 2006 and will succeed Sir Dominic Cadbury as Chairman in May 2006. This will follow Bill’s retirement as President and CEO of GE Healthcare, the medical diagnostics and biosciences business of the General Electric Company of the USA, of which he is also a Vice-Chairman.
Bill joined GE in April 2004 following GE's acquisition of Amersham plc, of which he had been Chief Executive since 1989.During his tenure with Amersham, he successfully led a major expansion of the business through organic growth and acquisitions, creating a world leader in in vivo medical diagnostics and life sciences research technologies.
Prior to joining Amersham, Bill held various positions with Wellcome plc, the pharmaceutical company then owned by the Wellcome Trust. His 20-year career with the company spanned roles in finance, marketing, research and development, technical management and he joined the Board in 1987 as Commercial Director.
Alongside his business career Bill has been involved for many years in not-for-profit activities, including roles as a council member of the Medical Research Council (2001-2004) and as Chairman of the Prince's Trust (1998-2003). He is currently a trustee of the Natural History Museum, a board member of the University of Michigan's Institute of Life Sciences, a Visiting Fellow at Green College, University of Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Sir Dominic commented, "I am delighted to be handing over the reins at the Wellcome Trust to such a distinguished and enthusiastic person as Bill Castell. He will have a strong natural empathy with our mission, with our colleagues in the research community, and with our staff."
Bill Castell commented, "The Wellcome Trust has played a fundamental role in facilitating, amongst other things, genomic discovery. I look forward to continuing the fine traditions of the Trust as the opportunities for medical innovation accelerate through the inclusion of advances in biomedical science".
About the Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is an independent research funding charity established in 1936 under the will of the tropical medicine pioneer Sir Henry Wellcome. The Trust's mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health, and it currently spends over £400 million annually.
The Trust's projected spend in the year to September 2005 is £460 million.The current asset base is around £11 billion. The Trust continues to invest in major projects, for instance the recently announced £20 million funding from the Trust for the new clinical research infrastructure initiative in the United Kingdom. The Trust is funding the development of a new TB vaccine and has helped promote the use of artemisinin, one of the most effective treatments for malaria. The Trust is also investing in HIV research in Africa. The Trust funds over 3,000 researchers around the world and sponsors more than 10% of all published UK biomedicine papers.