Issue date: Friday 27 February 2004

Wellcome Trust appoints two new Governors

Ronald Plasterk, Professor of Developmental Genetics at the University of Utrecht and Peter Smith, Professor of Tropical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, have been appointed to the Board of Governors of the Wellcome Trust, the leading biomedical research charity. They will take up their appointments in April following the retirement of Professor Julian Jack and Professor Michael Rutter.

Sir Dominic Cadbury, Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, said "We are fortunate to have attracted such distinguished people to the Board of Governors and are looking forward to working with them."

Media contact:
Miriam de Lacy
Head of Media Relations
Wellcome Trust
Tel: 020 7611 8285
E-mail: m.delacy@wellcome.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

1. The Wellcome Trust is an independent research-funding charity established in 1936 under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome. The Trust's mission is to promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health.

2. Ronald Plasterk, 46 is Professor of Developmental Genetics at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and Director of the Hubrecht Laboratory. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation, the Dutch National Health Council and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science.

3. Peter Smith CBE, 61, is Professor of Tropical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

4. 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 promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health and currently spends over £400m per annum.