Prof Thirumala Govender is Professor of Pharmacy in the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Head of the Drug Delivery Research Proto-Unit at University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She currently has a Ministerial appointment on the Board of the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) and is also appointed as the Vice Chair of the Pharmaceutical and Analytical Committee on the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for the evaluation of new medicines for regulatory approval. Prof Govender was also a past elected Vice Chair of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of South Africa and a Moderator for Pharmaceutics professional examinations for foreign trained graduates appointed by SAPC. She is also an invited Editorial Board Member on the prestigious Journal Of Controlled Release, a Q1 and international leading journal in Pharmaceutics.
Following the achievement of her Masters in Pharmacy degree cum laude, Prof Govender was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship and completed a PhD at University of Nottingham (United Kingdom). Her research focuses on the design, manufacturing and characterization of various novel medicines for several diseases. Prof Govender’s recent focus has specifically been the development of novel materials and antibiotic nano drug delivery systems to target MRSA infections. Based on research outputs so far, her Unit can be regarded as one of the leading groups globally in this area. She is competing with leading researchers internationally on emerging cutting edge nanotechnology approaches for designing “intelligent” pharmaceutical materials and architectural designs of new generation nano drug delivery systems for improving the treatment of bacterial infections and overcoming bacterial resistance.
Prof Govender is a South African National Research Foundation (NRF) B2 rated scientist. Her current h-index is calculated as 41 (Scopus) and 47 (Google Scholar) with almost 6000 and 8000 citations respectively. She has 148 publications in reputable international ISI journals including several in Q1/Top 10 pharmaceutical sciences, medicine and bioengineering journals. One of the papers in Journal of Controlled Release has attracted over 1200 citations and 11 others have over 100 citations. She is a Co-Inventor on 2 PCT patent applications filed internationally with over 150 local and international conference contributions. She has won several national awards from the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of South Africa for excellence in both research and teaching i.e.: Johnson and Johnson Distinguished Teacher Award and Adcock Ingram Award and Boehringer Ingelheim Award for Best Research Publications in Pharmaceutics. Prof Govender has secured scholarships/research grants from UK Commonwealth Association, NRF and MRC. She has successfully supervised several students at Masters, PhD and Postdoctoral levels, several passing with distinction and achieving international and national awards/appointments.
Prof Govender has achieved considerable international recognition as a scientist. These have included, inter alia, invited reviewer of papers from several top ranking international journals invited author to submit several review papers for top ranking journals, invited author for book chapters from global leaders in drug delivery, invitations from international scientific bodies to review research proposal, invitations from several international universities to be a visiting scientist, an external examiner, visiting lecturer and advisor on nanotechnology curriculum content, invitations from local and international pharmaceutical companies to advise on drug delivery, invitations to be a plenary speaker at international symposiums, invitations to chair sessions at local and international conferences and invitation from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at The Hague (Amsterdam) to present at a nanotechnology symposium for scientists from Africa. She has also established collaborations with leading universities internationally that have led to research grants, publications and staff/student training (e.g. University College London (UK), Concordia University (Canada), and Tohoku University (Japan)). Prof Govender has also been invited by 7 universities across Africa to specifically train their staff and students in nanotechnology research for drug delivery.
Prof Govender was recently elected onto the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the apex organization for science and scholarship in South Africa that honours distinguished scientists who have achieved national and international recognition for significant advancement in science for the benefit of society. She is currently a Member on the UKZN Animal Research and Ethics committee (AREC) , the past Chair of the UKZN College of Health Sciences Women in Leadership and Leverage Committee (WILL) and a past Head of the UKZN School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology. She is also a member of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of South Africa.
