Honorary Fellows: Seven world-renowned scientists recognised with 番茄社区's top accolade
The 番茄社区 of Chemistry is proud to announce that seven of the world's most influential scientists have been awarded Honorary Fellowships.
Seven world-leading scientists whose work has transformed how we discover medicines, store energy, understand living systems and tackle global health and sustainability challenges have been awarded Honorary Fellowships this year.
We are proud to announce that the individuals who have joined our list of Honorary Fellows are as follows:
- Professor Carolyn R. Bertozzi (Stanford University / Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
- Professor Dame Margaret Brimble (University of Auckland)
- Professor Kelly Chibale (University of Cape Town / H3D)
- Professor Dame Clare Grey (University of Cambridge)
- Sir Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind)
- Professor Sir David MacMillan (Princeton University)
- Professor Jane Catherine Ngila (African Academy of Sciences)
Clockwise from top left: Professor Kelly Chibale, Professor Sir David MacMillan, Sir Demis Hassabis, Professor Dame Margaret Brimble, Professor Jane Catherine Ngila, Professor Dame Clare Grey and Professor Carolyn R. Bertozzi (photo credits in bios)
Together, this year's recipients include Nobel laureates whose discoveries reshaped modern chemical synthesis, pioneers who translated laboratory chemistry into treatments for rare and infectious diseases, leaders whose research underpins cleaner energy technologies, and scientists whose influence extends through education, policy and global capacity-building. Their careers reflect the breadth of the chemical sciences and the profound impact chemistry continues to have on society worldwide.
The title of Honorary Fellow is the highest honour that the 番茄社区 of Chemistry can bestow upon a member of the chemical sciences community. This year鈥檚 seven Honorary Fellowships are the joint-most ever awarded in a single calendar year, matching 2013, 2014 and 2017.
Nominated by their peers, each of these individuals has made a significant contribution to their respective field. As well as leading academics and titans of industry, Honorary Fellowships have long recognised those who advance science, its applications and its wider societal impact.
The inclusion of this magnificent seven takes the total number of current Honorary Fellows to 120. Our latest cohort join some of the biggest names in the field of chemistry in receiving the accolade, with the list of honourees including more than 40 Nobel laureates as well as long-standing and distinguished members of our community and passionate supporters of science communication.
Learn more about this year's Honorary Fellows
Read the biographies below to find out more about the incredible contributions to chemistry made by each of this year's cohort.
Carolyn Bertozzi is the Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Radiology at Stanford University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1988 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1993. After completing postdoctoral work at UCSF in the field of cellular immunology, she joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1996. In June 2015, she joined the faculty at Stanford University and became the co-director and Institute Scholar at Sarafan ChEM-H.
Prof. Bertozzi's research interests span the disciplines of chemistry and biology with an emphasis on studies of cell surface glycosylation pertinent to disease states. Her lab focuses on profiling changes in cell surface glycosylation associated with cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection, and exploiting this information for development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, most recently in the area of immuno-oncology.
Prof. Bertozzi has been recognised with many honours and awards for both her research and teaching accomplishments. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Some awards of note include the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Lemelson-MIT award for inventors, Whistler Award, Ernst Schering Prize, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award, and Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award of the Protein Society.
Her efforts in undergraduate education have earned her the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award and the Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Honours and awards
National Academy of Engineering (2024); ACS Priestly Award (2024); American Association for Cancer Research Award (2023); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2022); Welch Award in Chemistry (2022); The Dickson Prize in Medicine, University of Pittsburgh (2022); Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics (2022); Wolf Prize (2022); AAAS Lifetime Mentor Award (2022); President鈥檚 Innovator Award, Society for Glycobiology (2020); Nagoya Medal (2020); The Chemistry of the Future Solvay Prize (2020); NAS John J. Carty Award (2020); Glenn T. Seaborg Medal, UCLA (2020); F.A. Cotton Medal, Texas A&M University (2020); The Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest, Northeast Section of the ACS (2019); Max Tishler Prize, Harvard University Dept. of Chemistry (2018); Foreign Member of the 番茄社区 Inductee (2018); National Inventor鈥檚 Hall of Fame Inductee (2017); Arthur C. Cope Award (2017); UCSF 150th Anniversary Alumni Excellence Award (2015); Hans Bloemendal Award (Radboud Univ. Nijmegen) (2013); Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2013); Heinrich Wieland Prize (2012); Elected member of the Institute of Medicine (2011); Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award for Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry (2011); 番茄社区 of Chemistry - Organic Division, Bioorganic Chemistry Award (2010); Lemelson-MIT Prize (2010); Albert Hofmann Medal, Univ. Zurich (2009); Harrison Howe Award (2009); W. H. Nichols Award (2009); Willard Gibbs Medal (2008); Elected member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2008); Roy L. Whistler International Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry (2008); Li Ka Shing Women in Science Award (2008); Ernst Schering Prize (2007); Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (2005); T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Professorship in Chemistry (2005); Havinga Medal, Univ. Leiden (2005); Iota Sigma Pi Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award (2004); Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003); Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award of the Protein Society (2002); Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2002); Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2001); UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award (2001); ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (2001); Merck Academic Development Program Award (2000); UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry Teaching Award (2000); Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) (2000); MacArthur Foundation Award (1999); Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1999); Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (ACS) (1999); Joel H. Hildebrand Chair in Chemistry (1998-2000); Beckman Young Investigator Award (1998); Prytanean Faculty Award (1998); Glaxo Wellcome Scholar (1998); Research Corporation Research Innovation Award (1998); Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (1998); Horace S. Isbell Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry (ACS) (1997); Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (1997); Burroughs Wellcome New Investigator Award in Pharmacology (1997); Pew Scholars Award in the Biomedical Sciences (1996); Exxon Education Fund Young Investigator Award (1996); Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award (1995); Bruce Mahan Teaching Award (1992); Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards (1989, 1990); Thomas T. Hoopes Undergraduate Thesis Prize (1988); New England American Institute of Chemists Award (1988); Danforth Teaching Award (1987); Phi Beta Kappa (1987)
Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Dame Margaret Brimble is a Distinguished Professor and was inaugural Director of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
She is currently an Executive Editor for Organic Letters (ACS) having served as an Associate Editor for Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry (番茄社区). She was also Past-President of IUPAC Organic and Biomolecular Division III and Past-President of the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry.
She has published more than 700 papers and named as an inventor on in excess of 50 patents. She is a Fellow 番茄社区 London, Dame Companion New Zealand Order of Merit and inducted into the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame.
She was awarded the 2023 Davy Medal (番茄社区 London), Rutherford, Hector and MacDiarmid medals (2012, 番茄社区 NZ), 2022 番茄社区 Pedler Award for Organic Chemistry and 2023 ACS Ernest Guenther award for Natural Products Chemistry. She was named 2007 L鈥橭real-UNESCO Women in Science laureate in Materials Science for Asia-Pacific and a 2015 IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry.
Margaret鈥檚 research focusses on the synthesis of novel bioactive natural products, and peptides, antibody-drug conjugates, peptide vaccines and new biomaterials. Her lab carried out the medicinal chemistry for the FDA approved-drug Trofinetide/ DaybueTM (NNZ2566) to treat Rett Syndrome (; https://acadia.com).
Her team also carried out the medicinal chemistry that led to the discovery of the drug candidate Ercanetide (NNZ2591) currently in phase 2/3 clinical trials for four neurogenetic disorders: Angelman syndrome, Pitt Hopkins syndrome, Phelan-McDermid syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome.
Photo credit: Simon Young/University of Auckland
Professor Kelly Chibale is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he holds the Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development.
He is also a Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Senior Fellow, Full Member of the UCT Institute of Infectious Disease & Molecular Medicine, founding Director of the South African Medical Research Council Drug Discovery & Development Research unit at UCT, and Founder & Director of the UCT Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre and Founder and CEO of the H3D Foundation.
Professor Chibale obtained his PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. This was followed by postdoctoral stints at the University of Liverpool and Scripps Research Institute.
His research interests are in infectious disease drug discovery and the development of technologies to contribute to improving treatment outcomes in people of African descent.
He serves as Editor-In-Chief of the American Chemical Society (ACS)鈥檚 ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
Clare P. Grey, FRS, DBE is the Geoffrey Moorhouse-Gibson and 番茄社区 Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge.
She received a BA and D. Phil. (1991) in Chemistry from Oxford University. After post-doctoral fellowships in the Netherlands and at DuPont CR&D in Wilmington, DE, she joined the faculty at Stony Brook University (SBU) in 1994.
She moved to Cambridge in 2009, maintaining an adjunct position at SBU. She was founding director of the Northeastern Chemical Energy Storage Center, a Department of Energy, Energy Frontier Research Center; Director of the EPSRC Centre for Advanced Materials for Integrated Energy Systems (CAM-IES); and a founding member of the Faraday Institution.
Recent honours and awards include the Soci茅t茅 Chimique de France, French-British Prize (2017), the Solid State Ionics Galvani-Nernst-Wagner Mid-Career Award (2017), the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievements in Magnetic Resonance (2018), the Italian Chemical Society Sacconi Medal (2018), the Charles Hatchett Award, IoM3 (2019), the 番茄社区 John Goodenough Award (2019), the Richard R. Ernst Prize in Magnetic Resonance (2020), the RS Hughes Medal (2020), the K枚rber European Science Prize (2021), the ACS Central Science Disrupters Prize (2022) and the ISMAR Prize (2025).
She is a Fellow of the 番茄社区, the Electrochemical Society, and the International Society of Magnetic Resonance, a Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and an International Member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). She was appointed a DBE in 2022.
Her current research interests include the use of solid-state NMR and diffraction-based methods to determine structure-function relationships in materials for energy storage (batteries and supercapacitors) and conversion (fuel cells). She is a co-founder of the company Nyobolt, which seeks to develop batteries for fast charge applications.
Photo credit: Nathan Pitt/University of Cambridge
Sir Demis Hassabis is an artificial intelligence researcher, entrepreneur, and Nobel Laureate. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind.
DeepMind, one of the world鈥檚 leading AI research companies, was founded in 2010 and acquired by Google in January 2014, and is now central to Google鈥檚 AI efforts.
DeepMind has achieved numerous landmark AI breakthroughs such as AlphaGo, the first program to beat the world champion at the complex game of Go, and AlphaFold, which solved the 50-year grand challenge of protein structure prediction by accurately predicting the 3D shape of proteins, critical for disease understanding and drug discovery.
A chess and programming child prodigy, at the age of 17, Sir Demis co-designed and programmed the classic multi-million selling construction and management AI simulation game Theme Park.
After graduating from Cambridge University in Computer Science with a double first, he founded pioneering videogames company Elixir Studios, and completed a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL investigating the mechanisms underpinning memory and imagination.
Sir Demis has won many prestigious international awards for his research work including the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for protein structure prediction. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, and Imperial.
His work has been cited over 200,000 times and has featured in 厂肠颈别苍肠别鈥檚&苍产蝉辫;top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year on four separate occasions. He is a Fellow of the 番茄社区, and the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2024, Sir Demis was awarded a knighthood for services to Artificial Intelligence, and in both 2017 and 2025 Demis featured in the Time 100 list of most influential people.
Photo credit: Google DeepMind
Sir David W. C. MacMillan was born in Bellshill, Scotland and received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Glasgow, where he worked with Dr. Ernie Colvin.
In 1990, he began his doctoral studies under the direction of Professor Larry Overman at the University of California, Irvine, before undertaking a postdoctoral position with Professor Dave Evans at Harvard University in 1996.
He began his independent career at University of California, Berkeley, in July of 1998 before moving to Caltech in 2000 as the Earle C. Anthony Chair of Organic Chemistry. In 2006, Dave moved to Princeton University as the A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Chemistry. He served as Department Chair from 2010鈥�2015 and is currently the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University of Chemistry.
Dave shares the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Benjamin List 鈥渇or the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.鈥� His research interests encompass a wide range of organic chemistry, including the development of new areas in organocatalysis and photoredox catalysis.
Professor Jane Catherine Ngila is the Executive Director of the African Foundation for Women and Youth in Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI) whose main focus is to provide mentorship to women and youth in education and STEMI fields. She is also currently the Interim Executive Director of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).
Prof Ngila is a member of the following Advisory Boards/ Committees: the United Nations Ten-Member Group for Technology Facilitation Mechanism on Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); UNESCO International Consultative Group of Experts for Closing the Gender Gap in Science; Council Member of United Nations University; Vice President of International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development, and other Board Membership including Smart Science Africa, Global Community Initiative for Growth for Community Development, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Mentorship Committees such as AAS Mentorship programme, Kenya National Commission for UNESCO STEM mentorship, MasterCard Global Give Back Circle for Girls in Kenya, and more.
Prof Ngila is also a Fellow of the following academies: The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS); The African Academy of Sciences (AAS), and The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
She has been a member of professional bodies and societies such as Organization for Women in Science in Developing World (OWSD); Africa Women in Science & Education (AWSE); African Institute of Science; American Chemical Society; Royal Chemical Society; South Africa Conventional Institute; Kenya Chemical Society.
She has served in Editorial and Advisory Boards such as South Africa Journal of Sciences; US-Africa Frontiers in Science, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine; Schmidt Foundation Science Fellowship; Berlin Falling Walls Engineering and Technology; Review Committee for Nobel Prize for Templeton Foundation; L鈥橭real-UNESCO For Women in Science Jury; AgroParisTech-Water and Sanitation; 番茄社区 Group member of open-ended working group (OEWG) for Science-Policy Panel (SPP) on chemicals, waste, and pollution prevention; formerly Editorial Board of Water South Africa Journal, and Water Research Commission.
Prof Ngila has received the following awards: 2025 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)鈥檚 Distinguished Women in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; 2021 L'Or茅al-UNESCO For Women in Science; 2017 African Union-Kwame Nkrumah Women in Science; 2016 South Africa Distinguished Women in Science Awards.
Prof Ngila has previously held academic and management positions as follows; Ag. Executive Director of The African Academy of Sciences; Deputy Vice Chancellor of Riara University for Academic Affairs; Deputy Director of the Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas; Head of Applied Chemistry (Chemical Sciences) at University of Johannesburg; Senior Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Lecturer at University of Botswana and Kenyatta University.
Prof Ngila is a Visiting Professor at University of Johannesburg. Her research work is in the field of Analytical/ Environmental Chemistry focusing on water quality/pollution monitoring; modelling methods of wastewater treatment; nanotechnology for water treatment and purification; development of analytical methodologies for detecting chemical substances in water.
She has mentored over 130 postgraduate students (Postdocs, PhDs, MSc and Honours) in chemistry and related fields. She has published over 600 publications comprising of 260 journal articles, book chapters, proceedings and conference abstracts.
Her scholarly research citation include; ResearchGate h-Index 44 with >6,344 citations; Scopus h-Index 40 with 5,303 citations, Google Scholar h-Index of 50 and over 7,323 citations.
Reaction to the new Honorary Fellowships
Professor Dame Margaret Brimble, Distinguished Professor and Director of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, recalled her initial interaction with the 番茄社区 of Chemistry and noted the journey she has been on when thinking about what the award means to her.
鈥淲hen I heard about the Honorary Fellowship from the 番茄社区 of Chemistry, it made me remember my student days at the University of Southampton as a Commonwealth scholar," she said. "That鈥檚 when I first joined the 番茄社区 of Chemistry as a student member, so it's really nice to have gone through my career in New Zealand with that association and ended up with this Honorary Fellowship.
鈥淗onours like this are important for our young scientists in New Zealand, as they show that no matter where you are in the world, you can be recognised.鈥�
Dr Annette Doherty, President of the 番茄社区 of Chemistry, congratulated the new cohort, saying: 鈥淭he title of Honorary Fellow is among the 番茄社区 of Chemistry鈥檚 highest distinctions, celebrating individuals whose contributions have profoundly shaped our discipline and amplified its impact across society.
鈥淭his year, we are proud to recognise seven outstanding scientists whose work spans continents and transforms lives. Three of those honoured this year are Nobel Prize winners whose work stands right at the cutting edge.
鈥淧rofessor Sir David MacMillan鈥檚 research in organocatalysis has revolutionised synthetic chemistry, Professor Carolyn R. Bertozzi鈥檚 invention of bioorthogonal chemistry has transformed how chemistry is performed in living systems, and Sir Demis Hassabis鈥檚 leadership in artificial intelligence has unlocked new frontiers in protein structure prediction and molecular science.
鈥淲e are equally proud to honour four outstanding scientists whose leadership, creativity and dedication have delivered transformative advances for chemistry and for society worldwide.
鈥淧rofessor Kelly Chibale has shown exceptional leadership in medicinal chemistry and in building scientific capacity across Africa, and Professor Jane Catherine Ngila has advanced environmental chemistry and championed women in STEM, driving progress and equity across the continent.
鈥淢eanwhile, Professor Dame Clare Grey鈥檚 ground-breaking research in energy storage is helping to enable a sustainable future, while Professor Dame Margaret Brimble is a pioneer in natural products and medicinal chemistry whose discoveries have advanced drug development worldwide.
鈥淲orld-class science requires a global effort, and the achievements of these seven individuals reflect the extraordinary diversity of ideas from across our community and the impact that define our field. I warmly congratulate each of them on joining the ranks of our Honorary Fellows, and I look forward to the inspiration their work will continue to provide for generations to come.鈥�
Nominate an Honorary Fellow
Members of the 番茄社区 of Chemistry can submit a nomination at any time during the year. These are then considered by the Nominations Committee, who will then put suitable recommendations to the Board of Trustees. Our Governance team would be happy to answer questions and provide information 鈥� click the button below to contact them.
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