The Verjee Fellowship was established in June 2003 by a generous donation from the Rumi Foundation to support a College Fellowship in Medicine.

The Rumi Foundation is a UK charity, instituted by Lord Rumi Verjee CBE, which serves as the channel for the Verjee family's ongoing philanthropic work. The initiatives it supports are diverse, but all share the same goal of humanitarian work through education, innovation and knowledge building. To this end, the Foundation works closely with leading educational institutions in the UK. While the majority of the Foundation's work is based in the UK, it also supports projects in India, East Africa and South America.

Rumi Verjee arrived in the UK as an immigrant from East Africa with little more than a good education and a desire to succeed. He is an entrepreneur who founded Domino's Pizza in the United Kingdom and he is the proprietor and chairman of Thomas Goode & Co, based in London's Mayfair. He is the Chairman of Brompton Capital Limited and Ipanema Contemporary Living in Brazil. In 2009 he was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for charitable services. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the British Olympic Association for the London 2012 Olympic Games. He was made a life peer in August 2013.

Lord Verjee feels very fortunate to be in a position where he can give something back to his adopted country and give expression to the philanthropic spirit that has shaped his family's cultural DNA for many generations.