Novartis Foundation

The Novartis Foundation was a scientific and educational charity, formed in 1949 by the Swiss company Ciba, now Novartis, and dissolved in 2008. It was the direct successor to the Ciba Foundation, and the changed name (Novartis Foundation) reflected the new name of Ciba, after merging with Sandoz. The Foundation was the brainchild of Robert Käppeli, Managing Director (and later President) of Ciba. The purpose of the institution was to promote collaboration in the medical sciences by the organisation of symposia which would allow experts of different fields to share ideas. Symposia took place both at their London premises and also in locations across the globe. Later these discussions were written up by in-house editors and published by John Wiley & Sons, with whom the foundation had a long standing relationship.

Novartis, though it provided financial support for the foundation, was not (in later years) represented on the Board of Trustees and occupied only a minority of seats on the executive council. The company withdrew their financial support from the foundation in February 2008. The trustees chose to undergo a merger with the Academy of Medical Sciences, which occurred on 31 July 2008 prior to the dissolution of the foundation later that year^[1] The foundation had its headquarters at 41 Portland Place in central London, UK. The headquarters will be refurbished and reopened by the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2010^[2].

References

1. ^ http://www.novartisfound.org.uk
2. ^ http://www.novartisfound.org.uk/

External links

• Novartis Foundation Official website
• Novartis Official website