November 24, 2023 | 18:00 – 18:45, with reception following
Speaker: Professor Kelly Chibale, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science; University of Cape Town
Co-host: Jürg Utzinger, Director, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)
The longstanding gaps in drug discovery infrastructure, enabling technology platforms and a critical mass of talent in Africa have not only hampered African-led health innovation but also have inadvertently facilitated the brain-drain out of Africa. The need to address the gaps presents an opportunity to create sustainable capacity strengthening and skills development models that result in the creation of an absorptive capacity to attract, develop, and retain skills on the African continent while also contributing to a global pipeline of drug candidates. This lecture will describe the University of Cape Town Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre, as well as its pioneering initiatives to expand the drug discovery ecosystem and community in Africa.
This event will be held in English.
Biography:
Professor Kelly Chibale is the driving force behind the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In 2018 he was recognized as one of Fortune magazine’s top 50 ‘World’s Greatest Leaders’. Chibale is dedicated to the development of new drugs to fight infectious diseases of poverty that are prevalent in Africa, including MMV390048, the first anti-malarial drug ever to be validated in a Phase I trial in Africa.
This event is co-hosted by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), an associated institute of the University of Basel.