Prof. Mohamed Iqbal Parker is Emeritus Professor of Medical Biochemistry and Structural Biology at the University of Cape Town and founding Director of the ICGEB Cape Town Component. He is a founder member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and served as General Secretary (2000-2004) and Vice President (2010-2016). He is a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and was Vice President of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) between 2020 and 2023. He is a member of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) Biosecurity Working Group. He was President of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1998 – 2001) and is the founder Secretary General of the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1996 – 2003). He served on International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) Executive Committee between 2006 and 2015 as the Chair of the Committee on Symposia. In 2021, he was elected to the IUBMB Executive Committee as General Secretary. He is the recipient of the National Science and Technology Forum award for “Outstanding Contributions in Science, Engineering and Technology”, the SASBMB Gold Medal for his contributions to Biochemistry, and the Oettle Medal by the Cancer Association of South Africa for significant contributions to cancer research. His research interests are in the areas of Molecular Biology and Genetics of Cancer, focusing on genetic aberrations in cancer susceptibility and biomarkers for early cancer detection using a Whole Genome Sequencing approach.