Speakers

Mohamed Iqbal Parker

Place of Birth : South Africa
Position : Founder Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and Founding Director of International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, South Africa
Field of study : Cancer Molecular Biology and Genetics, Biosafety and Biosecurity

Prof. Mohamed Iqbal Parker is Emeritus Professor of Medical Biochemistry and Structural Biology at the University of Cape Town and founding Director of the ICGEB Cape Town Component. He is a founder member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and served as General Secretary (2000-2004) and Vice President (2010-2016). He is a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and Vice President of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). He is a member of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) Biosecurity Working Group. He was President of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1998 – 2001) and is the founder Secretary General of the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1996 – 2003). He served on the IUBMB Executive Committee between 2006 and 2015 as the Chair of the Committee on Symposia. In 2021, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as General Secretary. He is the recipient of the National Science and Technology Forum award for "Outstanding Contributions in Science, Engineering and Technology", the SASBMB Gold Medal for his contributions to Biochemistry, and the Oettle Medal by the Cancer Association of South Africa for significant contributions to cancer research. His research interests are in the areas of Molecular Biology and Genetics of Cancer, focusing on genetic aberrations in cancer susceptibility and biomarkers for early cancer detection using a Whole Genome Sequencing approach.

Experiences

1995: Elected a Founder Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) 1997 – 2000: Council member and treasurer of ASSAf 2000 – 2004: General Secretary of ASSAf 2010 – 2016: Vice President of ASSAf 2010 - 2021: Chair of Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee of ASSAf 2017: Invited to serve on the US National Academy of Science Committee on Governance of Dual Use Research in the Life Sciences 2010 - 2017: Appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the UNESCO Biotechnology Centre in Tripoli, Libya 2012– 2017: Appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the UNESCO International Institute for Biotechnology in Nsukka, Nigeria 2020 - present: Member of Inter Academy Partnership (IAP) Biosecurity Working Group 2020 – 2023: Vice President of African Academy of Science (AAS) 2020 – 2023: Chair of the AAS Forensic Audit Committee 2022 – 2023: Acting General Secretary of AAS