Congratulations to Christ's Honorary Fellow, Dr Yusuf Hamied (m.1954), on his election as an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Society. The Royal Society is a Fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
This is the latest in a series of honours for Dr Hamied, who matriculated at Christ's in 1954 as an undergraduate, and then remained here to undertake his PhD in Chemistry, under Lord Todd (Master of Christ's between 1963 and 1978, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry).
Through his company, Cipla, Dr Hamied, has worked tirelessly to provide access to affordable healthcare, and is particularly known for developing novel syntheses of 3 anti-retroviral drugs and combining them into a single dose therapy, making treatment of HIV/AIDS efficacious and affordable. This resulted in saving millions of lives in Africa alone, an achievement celebrated in the internationally acclaimed documentary 'Fire in the Blood'.
The College has also benefitted from his engagement and commitment, with his support for students, Fellows, and providing first-rate accommodation for our graduate students, as well as the Yusuf Hamied Centre, a student centre.
We are enormously proud to have him as one of our Honorary Fellows.