Wellcome: Farrar’s last hurrah

The Wellcome Trust bids farewell to Jeremy Farrar, who made the charity a global player

Not many heads of research funding organisations are household names. Jeremy Farrar, who stepped down as the director of the Wellcome Trust last month after a decade in the role, is an exception.

With a background in infectious diseases and global health, Farrar—who becomes chief scientist at the World Health Organization in May—was the right person in the right place at the right time during the Covid-19 pandemic. He took a leading role in the global scientific response and found himself firmly in the public spotlight.