About the
Foundation
Enabling pioneering medical research that changes lives
Few charities concentrate on early-stage research and therapeutic innovation but this is the primary focus of the William Harvey Research Foundation.
Our aims are:
- To reduce deaths, increase life expectancy, and improve the quality of life for people who suffer from diseases that require better therapy;
- To target diseases, particularly prevalent in the local population served by Barts Health NHS Trust but which have global relevance;
- To improve the diagnosis and treatment of many rare diseases, studied by Genomics England at the WHR campus, where currently little therapy is available.
Research at WHR emphasises novel approaches to therapy, which can result in 'Eureka moments' that lead to dramatically better treatment.
Every day, people benefit from the pioneering research of Sir John Vane, Nobel Laureate and founder of the William Harvey Research Foundation. He discovered:
- how aspirin works, thus helping over 100 million people today who suffer from cardiovascular and inflammatory conditions, including heart attacks and arthritis;
- the therapeutic use of ACE inhibitors, benefitting over 10 million people who take these drugs to lower their blood pressure;
- the role of prostacyclin, benefitting thousands of patients with the rare but dangerous disease pulmonary artery hypertension, who take prostacyclin-based drugs.
Sir John Vane’s original small team has grown into one of the world's top pharmacological research institutes, comprising over 530 pioneering scientists from some 45 countries. We continue his pioneering legacy today.
Contact us: info@whrf.org.uk
