FROM THE GIBBS BUILDING on Euston Road, London – the Wellcome Trust’s headquarters – Lisha Patel helps oversee one of the most consequential fortunes in Britain. At 45, she is co-chief investment officer of the global charitable foundation, stewarding £39.9 billion – a sum so vast that its movements shape not only markets, but the future of global health research.
When the foundation published its annual report in January, it marked a defining moment in her tenure. The investment portfolio had reached a record £39.9bn, delivering a return of 10.2 per cent in the year to 30 September 2025. Speaking for the team, Patel struck a characteristically measured tone.
“It was reassuring to see the investment portfolio value reach a new high, despite significant market volatility over the course of the year,” she said. “The investment portfolio has performed well in a turbulent environment, with positive contributions from many different parts. We are grateful for our high-quality roster of investment partners, many of whom have been active relationships for decades. Our flexible, unconstrained investment mandate and our strong governance structure that allows efficient decision making mean we can pursue opportunities that many others cannot access.”
The words reflected her understated authority. Unlike hedge fund managers chasing short-term wins, Patel operates on a different timeline. Every decision she helps make determines how much funding will be available for scientific breakthroughs, pandemic preparedness and mental health research – not just now, but decades into the future.
Her rise to this role was neither abrupt nor accidental. In September 2024, Wellcome announced that Patel and her colleague Fabian Thehos, both managing directors, would become managing partners. On 1 April 2025, they assumed the title of managing partners and co-chief investment officers, succeeding Nick Moakes after his 17 years in charge.
The search had been global, with executive firm Russell Reynolds tasked with identifying candidates. Yet after surveying the field, Wellcome concluded that its future leadership was already in place.
“After an exhaustive global succession review, we have concluded with confidence that we already have the right people to build on Nick’s achievements,” said chief executive John-Arne Røttingen. “The future of Wellcome’s investments is in extremely capable hands.”
The endorsement reflected Patel’s role in shaping one of Wellcome’s most important strategic shifts. Since joining the trust in 2006, she has worked across asset classes, but became most closely associated with building its direct private investment capability – backing companies without relying on external fund managers.
As head of direct private investments, she oversaw a portfolio worth more than $1bn, spanning technology, healthcare, energy, e-commerce and financial services. It was a complex undertaking, requiring the creation of governance frameworks, sourcing networks and internal expertise. It also demanded conviction. Direct investing exposes both risk and reward more starkly, but offers something Wellcome values above all: control and time.
That long-term horizon is the trust’s defining advantage. Founded in 1936 after the death of pharmaceutical entrepreneur Sir Henry Wellcome, the organisation exists to fund science and improve health. Its investment portfolio is its sole financial engine, supporting programmes spanning discovery research, mental health, climate and health, and infectious diseases.
“Wellcome’s investment team has an outstanding track record which has been achieved by using the competitive advantage of our long-term investment time horizon, backing excellent investment partners, and a strong focus on developing our in-house investment team,” Patel said on her appointment. “I am looking forward to continuing to build on the ingredients of success which have served Wellcome so well.”
The scale of that success is striking. Over the decade to September 2025, the portfolio delivered cumulative returns of 203 per cent, or 11.7 per cent annualised, with positive returns every year – a record few global institutions can match.
In 2024–25, charitable spending rose to £1.9bn as Wellcome works towards its commitment to spend £16bn on science and health research between 2022 and 2032.
Its financial strength allows Wellcome to think differently. It holds an AAA/Aaa credit rating and has issued bonds with maturities of up to 100 years, reflecting a willingness to operate across generations. It has also committed to achieving a net zero investment portfolio by 2050, aligning its financial strategy with its scientific mission.
Patel’s influence extends beyond Wellcome itself. She was recently elected an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, her alma mater – a recognition that reflects both her professional standing and her long association with the college. She has served on Pembroke’s investment committee since 2012, including more than six years as its chair until 2025.
She has also mentored talented students from minority ethnic or lower socioeconomic backgrounds through Sponsors for Educational Opportunity London for over a decade.
She also sits on Imperial College London’s endowment board and serves on the investment committee of the Middle Temple.
Her path into finance began at Oxford, where she read Economics and Management before earning the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. She joined Lazard’s London corporate finance practice, advising on mergers and restructurings, before moving to Wellcome in 2006 at the age of 25.
Today, she leads the portfolio at a moment of unusual complexity. Public equity valuations, particularly in the United States, remain elevated, constraining future return expectations. Wellcome has responded cautiously, holding significant cash and short-dated instruments while waiting for opportunities.
At the same time, the demands on the portfolio continue to grow. The trust’s ambitious spending plans mean investment performance will directly shape the pace and scale of scientific research in the coming decade.
For now, Patel has signalled no dramatic break with the past. Her emphasis is on continuity, discipline and maintaining the governance structures that allow Wellcome to act decisively when opportunities arise.
That restraint is itself a form of power.
From the Gibbs Building, her decisions ripple outward – into laboratories, universities and research centres around the world. The influence she exercises is rarely visible, but it is enduring. Long after market cycles turn and headlines fade, the consequences of those decisions will remain, embedded in discoveries made possible by capital she helped grow and protect.
ENDS