Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is the most decorated scientist of Pakistan having won four civil awards including Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (1983), Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1991), Hilal-i-Imtiaz (1998), and the highest national civil award Nishan-i-Imtiaz (2002). He obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Kings College, University of Cambridge (1968). He has over 1559 international publications in several fields of organic chemistry (h index 82, citations 43,187) (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bSBNj1MAAAAJ) including 86 international patents, 70 chapters in books, 875 research publications, and 391 books (11 authored and 380 edited).

Prof. Rahman was elected as Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society (London) on 14th July 2006, and thus became the first scientist from the Islamic World to be elected a Fellow of this 370 year old Society on the basis of researches carried out within an Islamic country. He won the prestigious UNESCO Science Prize (1999) and was elected Honorary Life Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, UK (2007). Prof. Rahman has been conferred honorary doctorate degrees by many leading world universities including: Cambridge University (UK) (1987), Coventry University (UK) (2007), Bradford University (UK) (2010), Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand) (2010) and University of Technology Mara, (Malaysia) (2011). Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was conferred The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) (Italy) Prize for Institution Building in October (2009) and the high civil award (“Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande") by the Austrian government (2007) and the highest scientific award of China, “The International Science & Technology Cooperation Award” (2020). Prof. Rahman was appointed Academician (Foreign Member) of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences (2015) and Fellow (Foreign Member) of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology.

Many Research Centers in China, Malaysia and Pakistan have been named in his honour. The leading Chinese University on Traditional Medicine in Changsha, Hunan has established the “Academician Professor Atta-ur-Rahman One Belt and One Road TCM Research Center”) in October 2019 and the largest university in Malaysia, Universiti Technologi, Mara, Malaysia (UiTM), has also established an institution entitled, “Atta-ur-Rahman Institute on Natural Product Discovery (AuRins)” in 2013. Research Centres have also been named in his honour at NUST, Islamabad, University of Karachi and other universities.

Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was the Federal Minister for Science and Technology (14th March, 2000 – 20th November, 2002), Federal Minister of Education (2002) and Founding Chairman of the Higher Education Commission with the status of a Federal Minister from 2002-2008. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was the Coordinator General of COMSTECH, an OIC Ministerial Committee comprising the 57 Ministers of Science & Technology from 57 OIC member countries from 1996 to 2012. He is presently Professor Emeritus at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi which is now internationally recognized as the UNESCO Center of Excellence.

Professor Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary is a distinguished Pakistani chemist recognized globally for his work in organic and bioorganic chemistry. He serves as the Director of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) at the University of Karachi and is the Coordinator General of COMSTECH, an OIC ministerial body promoting science in Islamic countries. He also holds the position of Vice President (Central & South Asia) at The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

With over 1,370 publications, 94 books, 40 book chapters, and 94 patents (including 64 registered in the U.S.), Dr. Choudhary’s research has significantly advanced the field of natural product chemistry. His scholarly output has been cited more than 46,000 times, reflecting an h-index of 88. He has supervised over 100 Ph.D. scholars, contributing to scientific capacity-building both in Pakistan and internationally.

Dr. Choudhary is the recipient of Pakistan’s top civil awards: Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, and Hilal-i-Imtiaz. Internationally, he has been honored with the Mustafa Prize (2021), the Chinese Government’s Friendship Award (2022), and the Khwarizmi International Award. A fellow of multiple scientific academies, he is renowned for fostering global scientific collaboration and empowering emerging researchers, especially women, across the Islamic world.

Prof. Dr. Md. Nordin Haji Lajis is a highly respected Malaysian chemist and academic who has made outstanding contributions in the field of natural products chemistry. He served for over 35 years at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), playing a central role in founding the Laboratory of Natural Products in the Institute of Bioscience. His areas of expertise are organic synthesis and natural product chemistry, especially on the bioactive diterpenoids.

Over his career, Prof. Nordin Haji Lajis has authored more than 100 high-impact scientific publications. His mentorship has produced a significant number of graduates under his leadership, including Prof. Dr. Nor Hadiani Ismail, FASc.

Prof. Dr. Nordin hj Lajis is the founding member of Malaysian Natural Product Society and served as its president for many years. Prof. Nordin Lajis’ legacy spans not only his research contributions but also his impact on training the next generation of Malaysian scientists in natural products chemistry.

Professor Daniel Christian Hoessli is a distinguished immunologist and molecular biologist whose career spans several decades and continents. He earned his MD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in 1970 . Following his medical degree, he pursued postdoctoral training in immunology at Washington University in St. Louis and Yale University in New Haven, USA .

From 2000 to 2009, Dr. Hoessli served as Professor of Pathology and Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva. Since 2009, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Pakistan

Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Cordell obtained his Ph.D. in 1970 in synthetic and natural products chemistry at the University of Manchester, and after two years in the Department of Chemistry at M.I.T. joined the College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois Chicago, from where he retired in 2002 after serving as a Center Director, Department Head, Associate Dean, Interim Dean, and Assistant Vice Chancellor. He is the author of over 600 publications, two books on alkaloids, and the editor of 37 books. His collaborative research programs focused on drug discovery and the biosynthesis of natural products, particularly alkaloids, and the development of techniques for structure elucidation. He is an Honorary Professor at universities in China, India, and the Philippines, and a Visiting Professor in Malaysia (4 universities), Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and Colombia, and a former advisor to WHO on traditional medicine. He was the Co-founder of the U.S.-Thai Consortium for the Development of Pharmacy Education in Thailand. He is a Past President, Fellow, and Honorary Member of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, has received several international awards for his research achievements, and is presently writing two books on natural products. His current research interests include alkaloids and their biosynthesis, ecopharmacognosy, medicines security, cyberecoethnopharmacolomics, natural products in the 4IR, and C.A.R.E. in natural product research. He has over 30,050 citations and an h-index of 83.

Professor Dr. Doralyn Dalisay is a licensed pharmacist, registered microbiologist, and natural products chemist specializing in microbial, marine invertebrate, and plant natural products for drug discovery. She obtained her PhD in Microbiology from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in marine natural products chemistry at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Dalisay has contributed to drug discovery research at the University of British Columbia and Washington State University before returning to the Philippines in 2015 as a Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Balik Scientist. She established a research program on natural products drug discovery at the Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology (C2B2), University of San Agustin.

Dr. Dalisay is recognized as a pioneering scientist in studying marine sediment-derived actinobacteria from the Philippine archipelago, focusing on their biodiversity, biological activities, and chemistry. Her work aims to discover new antibiotics to combat drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. Her laboratory at C2B2 houses a microbial biobank with over 3,000 diverse actinobacteria isolates, serving as a valuable resource for drug discovery in the Philippines.

With over 3,290 citations, Dr. Dalisay has published extensively in high-impact journals and discovered more than 20 antibiotic and anticancer compounds from marine organisms. She holds three U.S. patents related to these compounds. Her work has earned numerous prestigious awards, including the 2022 Eduardo Q. Quisumbing Award for Basic Research, multiple DOST recognitions, the 2020 NRCP Achievement Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the 2019 Most Outstanding Professional in Pharmacy.

Currently a Diplomate of the Philippine Academy for Microbiology, Dr. Dalisay serves as Director of C2B2 at the University of San Agustin. Her research is supported by the National Research Council of the Philippines-DOST, USAID-STRIDE, and the University of San Agustin.