Without the support of Rosetrees, many of UCL’s major medical achievements may never have happened.
To date, the charity has funded over 300 UCL staff and students to pursue ground-breaking health and medical research for the benefit of millions of people worldwide. At the centre of this partnership is Rosetrees’ Chair, Richard Ross CBE.
Following a degree in Economics at LSE, Richard trained as an accountant and joined the family business Regentsmead. In 1987, driven by a commitment to use their success to help others, Richard’s parents established Rosetrees.
Under Richard’s leadership, Rosetrees has developed into a unique private charity that doesn’t put limits on the projects it funds, offers its services for free, and applies an effective business approach to charitable giving.
In the 1990s, Richard recognised a significant issue in research funding – brilliant ideas could not secure funding without data-based evidence, but they needed funding first to get the data. Richard decided to apply his venture capital know-how and fund projects at the very early stages, so they could get the data they needed to advance life-saving research. This means Rosetrees has backed the most innovative ideas, which have gone on to receive over £1bn in major grants.
With Rosetrees’ support, UCL has been able to develop new diagnostics, fund fellowships to build research capacity among young clinicians, and improve essential research in many disease areas, for improved patient outcomes. This partnership has also been critical in establishing the world’s first centre for rare dementias.
UCL appealed to Richard due to its “strong focus on inclusion and excellence since the creation of the university in 1826”.
UCL ranks amongst the best in terms of outstanding medical research and research support. Despite being a very large institution, it has also been a supportive, open and welcoming community.
He hopes UCL continues to expand our support for the best scientists and commercialise outstanding research to reach the people who need it most.
