Rate My Professor Yahya Choonara

Professor Yahya Choonara serves as Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology at the University of the Witwatersrand, within the Faculty of Health Sciences. He earned a BPharm, MPharm, and PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand. A pharmacist by training, he co-founded the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) Research Unit in 2007 and continues to direct this flagship entity, which focuses on advanced pharmaceutical innovations. He also holds the position of Chair and Head of Pharmacy and Pharmacology and the South African DSI-NRF SARChI Tier 1 Chair in Advanced Drug Delivery, Nanomedicine and Regenerative Medicine. In these roles, Professor Choonara has contributed to the establishment of one of Africa’s largest research platforms in its field, supporting extensive postgraduate and postdoctoral training.

His academic interests centre on targeted drug delivery, nanomedicine, stimuli-responsive biomaterials, and related areas within pharmaceutical sciences. Professor Choonara has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and maintains an active profile in international collaborations and professional bodies. He received the 2022 FIP Distinguished Pharmaceutical Science Award and the AU-TWAS Young Scientist National Award in 2015. In 2025, he was appointed to the World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations, serving on its AI-focused working group through 2027. Professor Choonara remains engaged in mentoring researchers and advancing pharmaceutical science capacity on the African continent.