Rosetrees Trust

Richard Ross, the son of founders Nat and Teresa Rosenbaum, chairs the Trust and serves as its CEO, making him the central decision-maker on both the investment side and the grant-making strategy. Jamaria Kong, a Managing Director at TowerBrook Capital Partners, serves as a Trustee, bringing institutional investment governance. The Trust also relies on an independent peer-review panel, consistent with its membership in the Association of Medical Research Charities, to evaluate scientific proposals.

Rosetrees operates an open application process through its website and maintains deep, long-standing relationships with research offices at UCL, Imperial College, King's College London, and the University of Cambridge. The Trust specifically solicits proposals for translational and interdisciplinary work that falls between basic science and clinical trials. Its membership in the AMRC requires it to use independent external peer review for all funding decisions, giving it de facto access to a wide network of UK scientific assessors.

The Trust focuses almost exclusively on proof-of-concept and early translational research — the stage where a lab discovery needs validation before a spinout company or clinical trial is viable. It funds PhD studentships, postdoctoral fellowships, and small project grants typically ranging from £10,000 to £250,000. Rosetrees does not take equity in spinouts, nor does it participate in venture-capital rounds, functioning strictly as a charitable grant-maker rather than an impact investor.

The Trust's corpus is managed as a diversified portfolio with known allocations to UK freehold commercial property, a residential development in Quarndon, Derbyshire, index-linked gilts, and absolute return funds. There is no public record of direct private-equity or venture-capital investments by the Trust itself, though the presence of TowerBrook's Jamaria Kong on the board suggests a sophisticated institutional investment posture. The investment returns fund the grant-making programme; the Trust does not seek external donations.

Rosetrees concentrates its funding on oncology, cardiovascular medicine, neuroscience, and regenerative medicine, with a growing interest in AI applications in diagnostics and drug discovery. The Trust typically avoids late-stage clinical trials, large epidemiological studies, and research that is already well-served by major funders like the Wellcome Trust or Cancer Research UK. It has publicly stated a preference for underfunded, high-risk areas where a small grant can generate outsized scientific impact.

Yes, the Trust regularly co-funds with major UK medical charities. Known co-funders include the British Heart Foundation and Leukaemia UK, with whom it jointly administers the John Goldman Fellowships. It has also partnered with Nesta, the UK innovation foundation, on a Challenge Portfolio for healthy-life extension. These co-funding arrangements allow Rosetrees to participate in larger projects while maintaining its lean operational structure.

The wealth originated with Nat and Teresa Rosenbaum, who built a portfolio of property holdings and retail businesses in the United Kingdom during the mid-20th century. Their son, Richard Ross, formalised the philanthropic structure in 1987 by establishing the Trust, named after Teresa Rosenbaum Golden. The family has deliberately kept a low public profile, and the precise value of the original endowment has never been publicly disclosed.