It’s more than 50 years since Neville Isdell graduated from the University of Cape Town , but he’s remained forever grateful.
The latest donation of $1.24m will be spent on researching new medicines for infectious diseases at the UCT Drug Discovery and Development Centre, H3D. Isdell said: “I hope this support will help Professor Chibale to drive and lead innovative research and development of new malaria medicines, as well as new tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance treatments, and train a new generation of African scientists with key modern pharmaceutical skills required to discover modern medicines.”
“In addition to providing useful data for targeted clinical trial design, and eventually for the establishment of better directed drug dosage and dosage intervals, the African Liver Project will also make H3D a unique centre of excellence where scientists from the global north and Africa will work hand in hand to better understand genetic variability in diverse African populations,” said Chibale.
“The post will be powerfully placed for guiding thinking, discussion and decision-making on the African continent.” Chibale said the funding would be put to good use at H3D, which was launched eight years ago, and has grown from a staff of four scientists to 60.