Wellcome Move to Boost Communications

Britain's biggest biomedical research charity, the Wellcome Trust, has made two senior appointments to strengthen its Communications Department.

Susannah Randall, previously acting Director of Communications at the National Patient Safety Agency, has taken up the newly-created post of Head of Communications at the Trust. And Katrina Nevin-Ridley, Press and PR Manager at the University of Edinburgh, will be joining the Wellcome Trust as Head of Media.

While at the NPSA Susannah, 32, who has extensive experience in healthcare communications, spearheaded the successful Medical Error campaign to raise patient safety awareness among junior doctors. She has also worked for Cancer Research UK and the Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Hospital Trust. She and Katrina both worked as press officers at VSO, the international development charity, earlier in their careers.

Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "Communications is a very important part of the Trust's work. We fund some of the best scientists in the world, and it's only right that the general public, as well as our scientific audience, should know about what is being achieved.

"We have brought our publishing, web and media teams together into a new division to bring a greater focus to our communications, and we are delighted to have Susannah and Katrina join us at this time."

Susannah said: "The Trust holds a unique position as an independent charity which funds research aimed at improving human and animal health, but which also seeks to understand and respond to public concerns and attitudes about scientific discovery. It has an important role to play in contributing to current debates about science."

Katrina, who has forged good relationships with many national and local journalists, said: "A large part of my work at Edinburgh has involved encouraging scientists to share the results of their research with the media. The media is also responding to a growing interest in scientific developments among the public. It's a great time to be joining one of the most influential organisations in the world of science."

Notes:

The Wellcome Trust is an independent research-funding charity established in 1936 under the will of the entrepreneur and explorer Sir Henry Wellcome. The Trust's mission is to promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health and it currently contributes more than £400m per annum to biomedical research.

For Media enquiries please call the Wellcome Trust Media Office: 0207 611 8866.