Charles Gore was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1995 and cirrhosis in 1997. Troubled by his own inability to find clear, accurate and unbiased information and by the lack of any organisation providing support in the UK, he set up The Hepatitis C Trust in 2001. In 2002 he underwent pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment and successfully eradicated the virus.

Charles has worked extensively with Government Departments and the National Health Service in the UK, championing the patient perspective. He was closely involved in the creation of the European Liver Patients Association and was elected its first President in 2004, promoting the cause of hepatitis B and hepatitis C at European level.

In 2007 he organised a meeting of hepatitis patient organisations from around the world to agree on co-ordinated global action. From this emerged the decision to hold World Hepatitis Day each year and to create a new NGO, the World Hepatitis Alliance, of which Charles is the current President. As a result of extensive advocacy during which Charles addressed the World Health Assembly, in May 2010 the 193 WHO member states adopted the first ever resolution on viral hepatitis establishing World Hepatitis Day as one of only six official WHO days and mandating the development of a global viral hepatitis strategy.