MORU is part of the Wellcome Trust’s South-east Asia Major Overseas Programme Network, with the other major part of the programme being based in Vietnam. Together MORU and the Vietnam programme operate as two interwoven networks of research activity, with complementary areas of interest and expertise,. Both the Thailand and Vietnam Major Overseas Programmes (MOPs) have central hubs (in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City respectively) and a number of closely linked major research sites and laboratories within the host countries, in the surrounding region, and beyond. The two hubs have superb strategic locations, with roughly half the world’s population within 2,000 miles of both. Together they form a broad network of tropical medicine research activity, which is unique in its research capabilities and scope, combination of clinical and laboratory expertise, and its flexibility to react quickly to study new and emerging infectious disease threats.

These capabilities and achievements have been built up painstakingly over the past 30 years. They have only been possible through a combination of long term, far-sighted and flexible support from the Wellcome Trust and a management philosophy focused on cooperation and collaboration, which fosters mutual trust within and between the MOPs, and between the MOPs, their host institutions, and their respective countries of work.