Walter Bodmer

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British geneticist and former director-general of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund; president and chair of trustees of the Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East

Sir Walter Bodmer

Image Walter Bodmer.jpg
Walter Bodmer (Royal Society fellow page)
Born January 1936 Frankfurt, Germany
Nationality British
Occupation Geneticist
Known for Director-General of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund; president of the Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East
Education Manchester Grammar School; University of Cambridge (PhD)

Sir Walter Bodmer (born January 1936) is a British geneticist, a Fellow of the Royal Society and a former director-general of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF).[1][2] He is president and chair of trustees of the Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East (ASG), a charity that organises British–Israeli academic workshops in Israel and says that "the only issue on which ASG has firm policy is opposition to BDS".[3][4] He is also a trustee of the University of Haifa UK and the Porter Foundation, and sits on the Board of Governors of the University of Haifa.[5][6]

Career

Bodmer was born in Frankfurt. In a 2007 interview he said he left Germany with his family in mid-1938, when he was two and a half, and grew up in Manchester, where he attended Manchester Grammar School.[7] He studied mathematics at the University of Cambridge and did a PhD in population genetics there under R. A. Fisher.[7][8]

In 1961 he went to Stanford University as a postdoctoral fellow with Joshua Lederberg, later joining the faculty and rising to professor.[7][8] At Stanford he began the work that contributed to the discovery of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system, the tissue-typing system used in organ and bone-marrow transplants.[7][1] In 1970 he returned to Britain as the first professor of genetics at the University of Oxford.[8] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974 and served on its Council from December 1978 to November 1979.[1]

In 1979 he left Oxford to become director of research at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratories in London, and in 1991 he became the Fund's first director-general. He retired from the ICRF in 1996.[7] He was knighted in 1986.[1] From 1996 to 2005 he was Principal of Hertford College, Oxford, of which he is now an honorary fellow.[8] Since 1996 he has headed the Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford, and later also within the university's Department of Oncology. [8] His recent research has focused on cancer genetics, especially colorectal cancer.[7][1]

The Royal Society credits him with beginning the movement for the public understanding of science, having chaired the first committee set up to establish standards for communicating science and technology. It awarded him its Royal Medal and its Michael Faraday Prize, and he gave its Bernal Lecture.[1] The European Society of Human Genetics describes him as one of the first to suggest the Human Genome Project, and says he was first a vice-president and then the second president of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO).[7] Companies House lists him as a director of HUGO (London).[2]

Israel links

In January 1986 the Jewish Chronicle wrote that "Sir Walter Bodmer ... is noted throughout the scientific world. But his name evokes special respect in Israel."[9] In December 1986 he chaired a Haifa University Forum meeting sponsored by the British Friends of Haifa University.[10]

He is a trustee of the University of Haifa UK (charity 270733), which raises funds for the University of Haifa. The register does not give his appointment date, but he appears in its trustee list in a register capture of July 2010.[5][11] The University of Haifa lists him as a "Member of Public Standing" on its Board of Governors.[6] In April 2023 the university reported that Bodmer, "a Trustee of the University of Haifa UK (UHUK) and a member of the University's Board of Governors", endorsed its Institute of Evolution at a London fundraising dinner.[12]

Since 12 March 2006 he has been a trustee of the Porter Foundation (charity 261194). The foundation's register entry says it supports "the Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University" and lists Israel as an area of operation.[5] He is also a trustee of the Foulkes Foundation (265166), a medical-research fellowship trust.[5]

Academic Study Group

In September 1988 the Jewish Chronicle named "Sir Walter Bodmer, director of research at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund" as a council member of the "revamped Academic Study Group for Israel and the Middle East".[13] The ASG website listed him as president in 2001,[14] and the 2017 accounts of the old charity (801772) name him as president and chairman.[15] He is chair of trustees of the current charity (1191067), which was registered in 2020; the register gives his appointment date as 1 January 2001.[3] The ASG's National Council page names him as president in October 2026.[16]

Positions with the Academic Study Group
Organisation Role Dates Source
Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East Council member by September 1988 [13]
Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East (801772) President; chairman by 2001; still in post in 2017 [14][15]
Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East (1191067) Chair of trustees; president 2020 – present (register date 1 January 2001) [3][16]

Charity trusteeships

The Charity Commission register lists him as a trustee of seven charities.[5]

Charity trusteeships on the register (extract dated 14 October 2026)
Charity Number Role Appointed Source
Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East 1191067 Chair 1 January 2001 (register date) [5]
University of Haifa UK 270733 Trustee not recorded (listed by July 2010) [5][11]
Porter Foundation 261194 Trustee 12 March 2006 [5]
Foulkes Foundation 265166 Trustee not recorded [5]
HUGO (London) 1008230 Chair not recorded [5]
The Challenge Fund - the Fight Against Cancer in the Emerging World 1079181 Chair 1 March 2008 [5]
Fisher Memorial Trust 313536 Trustee 17 December 1975 [5]

Company directorships

Companies House lists the following appointments.[2][17]

Directorships
Company Number Appointed Resigned Notes
HUGO (London) 02482466 not shown – Active
Association of Medical Research Charities 02107400 not shown 20 January 1994
Imperial Cancer Research Fund Trading Limited 00913621 27 January 1993 4 July 1996 Dissolved
Imperial Cancer Research Technology Limited (now Cancer Research Horizons Limited) 01662284 not shown 30 June 1998
Fisons plc (now Fisons Limited) 00044687 not shown 31 March 1996
Foundation for Science and Technology 01327814 17 May 1995 15 May 2002
Allostem Limited 04875706 1 April 2004 – Dissolved 6 April 2010
Laban Limited 02379542 not shown 21 March 2006
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance 00051090 23 March 2005 18 March 2008
Prostate Cancer Research Foundation 05926197 1 December 2006 10 September 2010
UK Forum for Genetics and Insurance 08378209 28 January 2013 – Dissolved 1 December 2020

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Royal Society, Sir Walter Bodmer FMedSci FRS royalsociety.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Companies House, Walter BODMER: appointments Find and update company information, accessed 23 October 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East, registered charity 1191067: full register entry Register of Charities, accessed 23 October 2026.
  4. ↑ Academic Study Group, Home foi-asg.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity and charity_trustee), extract dated 14 October 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 University of Haifa Board of Governors, Prof. Sir Walter Bodmer bog.haifa.ac.il, accessed 23 October 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 European Society of Human Genetics, Walter Bodmer: biography and interview with Peter Harper, 12 June 2007 Genetics and Medicine Historical Network, accessed 23 October 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Hertford College, Sir Walter Bodmer hertford.ox.ac.uk, accessed 23 October 2026.
  9. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 31 January 1986, p. 9, Simon Rocker, "Israel link".
  10. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 13 December 1986, p. 6.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Register entry 270733, contact and trustees (capture of 5 July 2010) UK Government Web Archive.
  12. ↑ University of Haifa, Division of External Relations, "London: University leaders present groundbreaking research activities at the Institute of Evolution" pr.haifa.ac.il, April 2023, accessed 23 October 2026.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Jewish Chronicle, 9 September 1988, p. 12.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 ASG Background on the ASG. Retrieved from the Internet Archive of 4 March 2001.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Academic Study Group, Annual report and unaudited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017 UK Government Web Archive, capture of 4 January 2020.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Academic Study Group, National Council foi-asg.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  17. ↑ Companies House, Walter Fred BODMER: appointments Find and update company information, accessed 23 October 2026.
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