On March 31st the Wellcome Trust and UCL announced the closure of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine

The proposal to close the Centre came in the middle of negotiations between UCL and the Wellcome Trust concerning the normal quinquennial review of funding for the Centre and was made by a handful of persons within the Trust without, as far as is known, the involvement of any historian of medicine. As far as can be ascertained at present, the Centre, and its associated activities, will be run down over a period of two years, ending on 30 September 2012. Undergraduate and graduate teaching is likely to continue until that date, as will Medical History, but in the absence of any further information from the Trust or from UCL nothing more can be said at this moment about the future. More definite information will be made on this website as soon as it becomes available. To avoid confusion, it should be made clear that this closure notice does not relate to the Wellcome Library, Wellcome Collection, or the funding activity of the Trust in History of Medicine.

The timing of the official announcement, literally minutes before the end of UCL term, coupled with the holidays and the travel disruption that has left many of the staff stranded across the world, has delayed any public announcement or response from the Centre. In addition, a current disciplinary case within UCL has prevented for legal reasons disclosure of some of the facts behind this decision. A petition to both the Trust and UCL to rescind their decision is being organised and will appear shortly on this site.

The Centre has been the leading research centre in the history of medicine, playing host to scholars from around the world. It secured the highest ratings in the latest RAE, and has an excellent record in both undergraduate and graduate teaching. Uniquely among medical history institutions, it has recently been nominated for Collaborating Centre Status by the World Health Organization. To withdraw all funding suddenly from such a Centre has implications for the subject as a whole, and potentially for the future of the renowned Wellcome Library, a significant proportion of whose readers are directly associated with the Centre.


Links:

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/apr16_2/c2094

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=411309&c=1