About h3d foundation
Leadership team/ board of directors
Kelly Chibale
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Kelly Chibale is a full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he holds the Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development. He is also a Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Senior Fellow, Full Member of the UCT Institute of Infectious Disease & Molecular Medicine, founding Director of the South African Medical Research Council Drug Discovery & Development Research unit at UCT, Founder & Director of the UCT Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre, and Founder & CEO of the H3D Foundation.
Kelly obtained his PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge (UK) with Stuart Warren. This was followed by postdoctoral stints at the University of Liverpool (UK) with Nick Greeves and at The Scripps Research Institute (USA) with K.C. Nicolaou. He was a Sandler Sabbatical Fellow at the University of California San Francisco (USA), a US Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (USA), and a Visiting Professor at Pfizer (UK).
Kelly has received many notable awards and honors, which include a 2010/11 National Science and Technology Forum-BHP Billiton Award in the category TW Kambule NRF Senior Black Researcher (2011), UCT Alan Pifer Research Award (2011), South African National Research Foundation (NRF) Special Recognition Award: Champion of Research Capacity Development at South African Higher Education Institutions (2012), South African Medical Research Council Silver Medal (2013); South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal (2016); Cheney Visiting Fellowship from the University of Leeds in the UK (2017-2018); South African Chemical Institute Gold Medal (2018), Royal Society (UK) Africa Prize (2023), Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Senior Fellowship (2023), Honorary Doctorate of the Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Switzerland (2023), election as one of 10 International Members of the United States National Academy of Medicine (2024), election to an Honorary Fellowship of Queens’ College at the University of Cambridge (2024), Honorary Doctorate of Leiden University, Netherlands (2025), election as one of 30 International Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences (2025), selection as an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Distinguished International Fellow (2025) and awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) in recognition of profound leadership and influence on chemical science and society (2026).
Kelly was also named one of Fortune magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders (2018), one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African magazine (2019), one of 22 black biotech leaders in honour of Juneteenth in the USA on a list published by the Timmerman Report, which celebrates innovative black leaders who are change-makers in their respective fields (2021), and one of the 25 standout voices in African public health by Harvard University’s Public Health magazine (2022). After serving as an Associate Editor for the American Chemical Society (ACS)’s Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, in 2023 Kelly became the first Editor-In-Chief (EIC) from Africa of an ACS publication when he was appointed EIC of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. Kelly’s other roles include being member of the board of Chemical Process Technologies Pharma (South Africa); Chair of Global Health at LifeArc (UK); member of the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization Council of Scientists representing South Africa; Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of INTREPID Alliance -a non-profit consortium of innovative biopharmaceutical companies dedicated to accelerating the pipeline of antiviral treatments to help protect the world ahead of future pandemics; Member of the 100 Days Mission Science and Technology Expert Group created to support the International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat; member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (Beijing, China) and member of the Board of Directors of the Global Health Innovation Institute (Shanghai, China).
Kelly’s research interests are in drug discovery and the development of tools and models to contribute to improving treatment outcomes in people of African descent.
Susan Winks
ChIEF Operations Officer
Dr Susan Winks is currently employed as the Head of Research Operations and Business Development at H3D and manages the team of professional staff that support the interdisciplinary drug discovery work at H3D. She has been operating in a project management and operations role for the past 10 years, setting up organisational systems and working to support the various projects across the centre. Prior to this, Dr Winks worked as a medicinal chemist focused on drug discovery for neglected diseases, first at iThemba Pharmaceuticals for 3,5 years and then at H3D for a year
The transition away from laboratory science was precipitated by the completion of her MBA in 2014 and an ever-increasing interest in optimizing the environment for scientific efforts to maximize the impact.
Ayesha banderker
ChIEF FINANCIAL Officer
Ayesha Banderker is currently employed at the H3D Drug Discovery and Development centre where she manages and enables the financial, systems, policy and administrative framework within which H3D is able to function optimally. The position provides appropriate financial management and support services to the Director and general staff within the Centre in accordance with University requirements, policy and procedures.
The position also ensures adherence to statutory requirements, assesses risk and strives for operational efficiencies across the entire unit. She has been operating in the finance position for 7 years, setting up organisational systems and working to support the Centre.
About h3d foundation
Team
godfrey Mayoka
Consultant
Dr Godfrey Mayoka is a pharmacist and drug discovery scientist committed to strengthening Africa’s role in developing innovative medicines to address its health challenges. As a Consultant at the H3D Foundation, he supports the Grand Challenges Africa Drug Discovery Accelerator, working to expand scientific capacity, foster cross-continental collaborations, and deliver impactful research outcomes.
He trained at the University of Nairobi (BPharm), University College London (MSc Drug Discovery), and the University of Cape Town (PhD), and has advanced antimalarial research as an African Research Excellence Fund Fellow at UCT and pursued antibiotic discovery as a postdoctoral fellow at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, Germany.
Passionate about empowering the next generation of African scientists, Dr Mayoka actively mentors, teaches, and provides career guidance, while advocating for sustainable drug discovery ecosystems and regional partnerships that position Africa as a valued partner in global health innovation.
Nicola Elliott-Wong
Programme Coordinator
Nicola Elliott-Wong is the Programme Coordinator at the H3D Foundation, where she manages training programmes, oversees administration, and serves as secretary for the Grand Challenges African Drug Discovery Accelerator (GC ADDA). She holds a Master’s Degree in Drama from Rhodes University and has a diverse background in education, choreography, and facilitation, with experience ranging from university lecturing and teacher training to public speaking coaching and textbook writing. A recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance (2014), her work has been presented at festivals in South Africa and internationally.
Jutta Reinhard-Rupp
Ambassador
Jutta Reinhard-Rupp represents the H3D Foundation in an ambassadorial role, based in Switzerland. She is a senior Global Health expert and former Head of the Global Health Institute at Merck. Her focus is on catalyzing innovative health solutions for most vulnerable populations and on strengthening research skills and capacity to foster human progress.
With more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Jutta specialized in the Global Health field focusing on malaria and neglected tropical diseases. Under her leadership, an integrated portfolio encompassing diagnostics and new treatment options combined with local capacity strengthening and trainings has been developed. As Chair of the Board of the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium, she steered the development of a new pediatric formulation for young children suffering from schistosomiasis which received EMA approval in 2023 and WHO pre-qualification in 2024.
Jutta currently serves as scientific advisor for DZIF (German Center for Infection Research) and CPCDI (Cross-Pharma Capacity Development Initiative) housed by the Science for Africa Foundation.
In her ambassador role, Jutta will raise awareness about the H3D Foundation in order to strengthen and build partnerships and she will support securing stable funding in order to build an African based ecosystem for integrated Drug Discovery and Development.
Kelly has received many notable awards and honours, which include a 2010/11 National Science and Technology Forum-BHP Billiton Award in the category TW Kambule NRF Senior Black Researcher (2011), UCT Alan Pifer Research Award (2011), South African National Research Foundation (NRF) Special Recognition Award: Champion of Research Capacity Development at South African Higher Education Institutions (2012); South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal (2016); Cheney Visiting Fellowship from the University of Leeds in the UK (2017-2018); South African Chemical Institute Gold Medal (2018); Royal Society (UK) Africa Prize (2023), Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Senior Fellowship (2023) and Honorary Doctorate of the Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Switzerland (2023).
He was also named one of Fortune magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders (2018), one of 22 black biotech leaders in honour of Juneteenth in the USA on a list published by the Timmerman Report, which celebrates innovative black leaders who are change-makers in their respective fields (2021), and one of the 25 standout voices in African public health by Harvard University’s Public Health magazine (2022). After serving as an Associate Editor for the American Chemical Society (ACS)’s Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, in 2023 Kelly became the first Editor-In-Chief (EIC) from Africa of an ACS publication when he was appointed EIC of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
Kelly’s other roles include being member of the board of Chemical Process Technologies (CPT) Pharma (South Africa), member of the Global Health Strategic Advisory Board of LifeArc (UK), member of the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization Council of Scientists representing South Africa, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of INTREPID Alliance -a non-profit consortium of innovative biopharmaceutical companies dedicated to accelerating the pipeline of antiviral treatments to help protect the world ahead of future pandemics, member of the 100 Days Mission Science and Technology Expert Group created to support the International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat, member of the Scientific Advisory Panel for the Sir Howard Dalton Centre for Translational Mechanistic Enzymology (AMR discovery translation) at the University of Warwick (UK), and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (Germany).
Kelly also serves on editorial advisory boards of ACS Infectious Diseases, Accounts of Chemical Research, ACS Bio & Med Chem Au, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Cell, ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science and Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Kelly’s research interests are in drug discovery and the development of tools and models to contribute to improving treatment outcomes in people of African descent.