Our History

We became known as Guts UK in 2018 but our charity's journey began more than fifty years ago.

Our journey began in 1970, when the Digestive Disorders Trust Fund was set up by our founders.

In the decades that followed, we began funding medical research and provide expert patient information. Our charity was originally known as the Digestive Disorders Foundation, before changing our name to Core in 2007.

In 2018, we rebranded our charity to Guts UK and the rest, they say, is history.

Where it all began

In 1970, the Council of the British Society of Gastroenterology first considered founding a charity to promote research in this speciality.

A steering group, chaired by their President at the time Dr Nelson Coghill, compiled facts and figures which established the importance of digestive disorders as a national health problem. Using this evidence as a basis for appeal, a Digestive Disorders Trust Fund was established in June 1971.

Clockwise from left to right: Dr Thomas Hunt, Dr Nelson Coghill and Sir Francis Avery Jones.

Dr Thomas Hunt, a founder member of the British Society of Gastroenterology, agreed to launch the new charity. He succeeded in attracting prominent lay and professional support. By 1974, its funds were sufficient to award the first research fellowship and to inaugurate the charity as a Foundation, with Dr Hunt as its first President.

In 1980, Sir Francis Avery Jones took over the presidency for the next 12 years. Important landmarks during this time were the appointment of the first full-time director, expansion of research support, and the development of the successful patient information programme.

British Digestive Foundation
Sir Arthur Hurst Centenary Committee 1978-1979
Clockwise from left: Sir Francis Avery Jones, Mrs. T. Hunt, Prof. Michael Hobsley, Christopher Hurst, Dr. Richard Tonkin, Dr. William Mann, Dr. Thomas Hunt, Major H. Mitchell, Lionel Goldhill, Dr. Martin Sarner, Prof. Bryan Brooke, Mrs. W. Mann