Dr Ted Bianco to be appointed Acting Director of the Wellcome Trust
Dr Ted Bianco, currently Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust, is to be appointed Acting Director of the Trust following the departure of Sir Mark Walport on 14 March.
Dr Bianco, who has worked at the Trust since 1999, will lead the executive team until a permanent appointment is made. Recruitment of a new director is at an advanced stage.
Dr Bianco will continue to manage the Technology Transfer Division. Sir Mark is leaving the Trust after ten years to take up the position of Government Chief Scientific Adviser.
Sir William Castell, Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, said: "Ted Bianco is passionate about the Wellcome Trust's vision of driving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health, which his work in our Technology Transfer Division has done so much to achieve. I am delighted that he will lead our outstanding executive team until Sir Mark Walport's successor can start."
Biography of Dr Ted Bianco
Ted Bianco is the Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust. He joined the Trust in 1999 as head of the newly established department of Centres and Initiatives, administering the Wellcome Trust's investment in UK Centres and devising such schemes as the Joint Infrastructure Fund, Scientific Research Infrastructure Fund, Functional Genomics and Integrative Physiology. He founded the division of Technology Transfer in 2002 with the primary goal of translating basic research into health products and public health tools in areas of unmet medical need. He leads a team of business development analysts, lawyers and administrators who, together with independent experts, provide the due diligence, governance and oversight to manage a project portfolio approaching £1 bn. Prior to joining the Trust, Ted spent 25 years in biomedical research specialising in tropical medicine and infectious disease. He obtained his PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and subsequently worked at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where he was the Walter Myers Professor of Parasitology.
About the Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust's breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests.