The Fungal Threat > Support our work

Medical Mycology (the study of fungi that cause disease) is one of the most neglected fields in medical practice, and yet fungi kill more than 1.5 million people every year, mostly in low income countries.

One of the main barriers to the prevention of deaths from fungal infections is the lack of clinical and research capacity in medical mycology and the limited opportunities for talented scientists and doctors in these low income countries to study and understand medical mycology. We want to change this.

Please help us to train a new generation of scientists and doctors to tackle these infections and to find new treatments that can finally defeat these life-threatening diseases.

To make a donation or discuss other options to be part of our group of supporters please contact:

Katie Burfitt
Senior Development Manager Global Advancement
[email protected]
(+44) (0) 7866 139798

How your support could help us to change the story:

Training programmes

We offer training posts for researchers, clinicians and students at several levels. These individuals represent the future of medical mycology. By providing world leading training through bespoke courses, we can increase the capacity needed to keep tackling these infections. Without these people, we cannot move the field forward, which will increase the burden of fungal diseases and lead to more deaths.

It is especially important for us to increase capacity in medical mycology in lower and middle income countries (LMICs). Therefore, we hope to offer more opportunities to scientists and clinicians from LMICs to come to Exeter to train on our 1-year MRs course, or to study remotely by undertaking our online MSc, PG Dip and PG Cert training programmes.

Donations allow us to provide more opportunities for these trainees from LMICs, especially by helping to bring down their costs relating to programme fees, travel and subsistence costs.

For more information on our training programmes, see our Training vision page.

Our Research

Our researchers are passionate about fighting fungal diseases and helping those affected live longer, healthier lives, whether they are based in the lab or working directly with these patients. Our research covers a wide variety of themes, which together can help us to better understand and treat fungal diseases. Our work leads to new drugs and therapies, which are vital to patients.

Donations help fund 6-month research projects at the MRC CMM Laboratories for overseas students and clinicians who join our 1-year MRes in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology programme.

For more information on these themes, check out our research page.

Global Outreach

The major burden of serious invasive fungal infection is borne by low- and middle-income countries. The creation of dedicated research units in the worst impacted regions is a critical tool in the effort to tackle devastating fungal diseases worldwide.

At the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology we are addressing overseas need by establishing specialist Medical Mycology units in key locations across the globe. The specialist units will work closely with the UK based Centre, and are to be located in countries where they can have an impact across large regions. This will allow training and research to happen where the impact of fungal disease is the highest, and provide local training for scientists and doctors without having to travel.

In 2017 we opened the first of these global Centres with the AFRICA CMM Medical Mycology Unit at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, led by Prof Claire Hoving (see video on the right). We are now planning to establish units in Brazil and South East Asia.

Donations contribute to our ability to expand and offer new studentships to get trained within these Units. Establishing and growing these units is key to our vision and to offer possibilities to scientists and clinicians at these locations.

You can learn more about our ambitions and successes on our Global Impact page.

Fungal infections cause more than 1.5 million deaths worldwide each year. Philanthropic donations are vitally important to progressing our research at speed, enabling Exeter’s MRC Centre for Medical Mycology team of leading scientists to drive forward innovation and make advancements to health and patient care. To make a gift, please donate here, or for further information please contact Katie Burfitt at [email protected].

Support our work