Medical Research Foundation

Who we are

Our vision is a world where medical research improves health for everyone.

History has shown us, time and again, that the best way to achieve better human health is through medical research.  Over the past 100 years, we have witnessed monumental advances in medical research. We know that by investing in medical research now, we will see life-saving advances in the future.

While the last century has brought huge improvements in the quality and longevity of life, there are still many health conditions which impose a heavy burden on millions of people, in the UK and around the world. And in many areas of health there is a severe lack of research funding, which is holding back the scientific progress needed to change lives.  This is where we step in.

Our mission is to lay the foundations for ground-breaking new discoveries and life-changing advances.  We give hope to people whose health conditions are overlooked, by supporting research in areas that are underfunded.  We invest in the brightest and best researchers, ensuring the next generation of scientists can continue to solve the biggest challenges facing human health.

In the last five years alone, we have invested £25 million into life-changing medical research, focusing on areas that have historically been underfunded.  But there is still much more to do.

Looking ahead, we know that nine million people in England alone will be living with a major illness by 2040 – that’s 2.5 million more than in 2019, an increase of 37%.  We will use our unique position, as a broad funder of medical research, to respond to these challenges and fund research in ways that will have the biggest possible impact on people’s lives.

Our team is proud to work for the Medical Research Foundation. We are ambitious for the organisation and for ourselves. We are approachable - providing advice to everyone and explaining our work. We are dedicated and committed to achieving the most for our donors and our researchers.  And we are involved – constantly looking for new ways to engage and improve.  Visit our website to find out about our strategy to 2029: Giving hope through life-changing medical research.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

We strive to make equality, diversity and inclusion central to all aspects of our work. Two of our people are trained as EDI Advocates and our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group reviews our work and makes recommendations for change. We are implementing the action plan that arose from our first EDI audit and we are open to continued learning from all our people to help us identify and remove barriers to inclusion, and encourage and embrace diversity of thought and experience.