Professor Sarel Francois Malan is a Professor and Director of the School of Pharmacy, University of the Western Cape; Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa and Honorary Life Member of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He served in various capacities on executive committees of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Secretary, Treasurer, Vice Chair and Chair) and Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (Branch Chair, Vice President, Deputy President and President). He is a current Chair of the International Non-proprietary Names (INN) Committee of World Health Organisation (WHO) and member of the South African Pharmacy Council and expert committees of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).
Prof Malan supervised/co-supervised more than 75 MSc and PhD studies in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics. He published ±100 scientific papers, 25+ perspective columns/comments in the SA Pharmacy Journal, have ±150 national and international conference contributions; and is National Research Foundation (NRF) B3 rated scientist. Prof Malan acted as external examiner and moderator for undergraduate courses, MSc dissertations and PhD thesis for National University of Singapore, University of Namibia, Nelson Mandela University, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of the Western Cape, Rhodes University, North-West University, University of Pretoria, University of the Witwatersrand, National University of Lesotho and the South African Pharmacy Council.
Prof Malan is an Editorial Board Member of Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry and The Open Medicinal Chemistry Journal (TOMCJ), Bentham Scientific Publishers. He is a Reviewer/Evaluator for National Research Foundation (Rating and Funding), South African Journal of Science (SAJS), Organic Letters, Life Sciences, Letters in Organic Chemistry, Metabolic Brain Disease, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and European Journal of Pharmacology.
Prof Malan's current research interests are in drug design and molecular modelling of novel entities with ion channel and/or neuroprotective activity, antimalarial and antimicrobial activity or resistance reversal, and the influence of chemical structure and conformation on physicochemical properties and membrane permeability of drugs as well as the design of hybrid and pro-drugs with multitarget-directed activity.
