Sir Mark Walport is Director of the Wellcome Trust. Before joining the Trust, Sir Mark was Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of Medicine at Imperial College London.

Sir Mark is a member of the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology, the UK-India Roundtable, the advisory board of Infrastructure UK, and a non-executive member of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research. Additionally, he is a member of a number of international advisory bodies, including the Grand Challenges in Global Health Scientific Board and the Council of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Sir Mark has undertaken independent reviews for the UK Government on the use and sharing of personal information in the public and private sectors in 2009 and secondary education in 2010. He received a knighthood in the 2009 New Year Honours List for services to medical research.