Prof Kelly Chibale receives Queens’ College Honorary Fellowship

Professor Kelly Chibale, the founder and director of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre, has been conferred an honorary fellowship by Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, in recognition of his outstanding leadership, research and innovation in the field of drug discovery.

Professor Chibale has an impressive list of accolades behind his name, including having received the Royal Society Africa Prize, serving as the first editor-in-chief (EIC) from Africa of an American Chemical Society (ACS) journal when he was appointed EIC of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters and being named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine.

In December 2024, he reached yet another milestone as he was conferred an honorary fellowship by Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, where he completed his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry in 1992.

According to the institution, “Honorary fellows are elected by the governing body, having achieved excellence in their profession or chosen field, given distinguished service to the college or university, an institution, movement, region or nation, or been nationally or internationally recognised for any of the above.”

“It’s a rare honour and it was very special to receive it from Queens’ College in particular.”

For Chibale, this fellowship stands out among his myriad accomplishments not only because it is the highest honour that a Cambridge college can give to an individual, but also because it comes from his alma mater.

“The fellowship was given to me for my accomplishments to this point. It’s a rare honour and it was very special to receive it from Queens’ College in particular, because this is my alma mater that’s recognising all my personal and professional achievements,” he said.

The magic of molecules

While his achievements are plentiful – and impressive – Chibale’s congeniality would never lead you to guess at his acclaim. This may be down to his uninhibited passion for his field of study, driven in part by the fact that it stands at the point where mystery and predictability converge.

“At secondary school in Zambia, we would do these simple experiments, like titrations, where we would mix chemicals and, suddenly, the colour of the mixture would change. It was like magic and it just fascinated me,” he recalled.

“When I got to the University of Zambia (UNZA), I fell in love with organic chemistry and the logic behind it. How you can take a molecule and transform its chemical structure and, with those modifications, create a completely new molecule with properties that have a range of applications and benefits.”

After graduating from UNZA, Chibale moved to Zambia’s Copperbelt province where he worked for a company tasked with developing commercial explosives for the mining industry. It was there that he met his wife, Bertha, and obtained a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge.

“I was accepted to do my PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at Cambridge. That brought me into this world where we put the art and science of developing synthetic methods and using them in the synthesis of complex molecules that have biological and medical applications in the real world,” he said.

From there, the young scientist went on to complete two postdoctoral fellowships, one at the University of Liverpool and another at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, following which he joined UCT in October of 1996.

Building Africa’s scientific future

During his time at the Scripps Research Institute, Chibale had the privilege of working with and coming across internationally renowned scientists, including some Nobel Prize laureates. He noticed that many of these researchers were also entrepreneurs, something which sparked an idea that proved to be a landmark moment in his professional career.

“That drove me to think about science not just as a vehicle for satisfying my curiosity, but as a way to do things that are for the benefit of society,” he explained.

“When I moved to South Africa, I started to ask myself, ‘How can I use science for development?’ I wanted to figure out how we could use science to address health challenges, for example, and simultaneously create jobs.

“I wanted to figure out how we could use science to address health challenges … and simultaneously create jobs.”

“Many of the problems that exist in Africa can be linked to unemployment. Even when we educate scientists, they go to more developed nations because there are no jobs for them in Africa. So, I wanted to help to create an absorptive capacity, where we can develop, nurture and retain talent.”

Another important outcome of establishing scientific entrepreneurship in Africa was combatting Afro-pessimism, whether on the continent itself or further afield.

“Afro-pessimism is not just the negative perceptions of those outside of Africa, it’s also the lack of belief of Africans that we can be scientifically innovative. It’s not entirely difficult to understand given the image of Africa in the media, but I wanted to find a way to change that narrative and those perceptions,” he said.

A legacy of innovation

Since the founding of the H3D Centre at UCT in 2010, the centre’s work has attracted millions of dollars in funding, led to the creation of 75 jobs and established vital infrastructure that has put Africa on the map as a significant contributor to drug discovery.

It is this legacy that Chibale is most proud of and hopes that future generations of African scientists can build on to create a better world for all.

“I hope that people can look at my path and see that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, but that you seize every opportunity that comes your way; that if you make the most of what you’re given, you make it count and you are consistent, that you can be successful,” he shared.

“Nobody has the monopoly on success and all things are possible if you build the right partnerships and you stand on the shoulders of giants.”

“God has given us all unique talents and gifts, so you must recognise that and put it to good use. Nobody has the monopoly on success and all things are possible if you build the right partnerships and you stand on the shoulders of giants.”

In that vein, the professor notes that we must be careful to preserve institutions like UCT, which give those associated with them immeasurable opportunities to achieve unmatched success.

“We must be careful to protect the brand of UCT that has given us so much. It is the best academic institution on the African continent. We must not only be grateful for it, we must also take on the responsibility of preserving what those who have come before us have achieved.”

“We must be careful to protect the brand of UCT that has given us so much. It is the best academic institution on the African continent. We must not only be grateful for it, we must also take on the responsibility of preserving what those who have come before us have achieved.”

A historic honour

In addition to his recent Queens’ College fellowship, Chibale has also been conferred an honorary doctorate by Leiden University in the Netherlands in recognition of his pioneering work on the development of novel medicines to fight African endemic diseases through both the H3D Centre and H3D Foundation.

The ceremony takes place on the occasion of the university’s 450th anniversary and will be attended by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Royal House of the Netherlands. The last African scholar to receive a doctorate in this context was former president Nelson Mandela in 1999.