Yusuf Hamied is Chairman, Cipla, a leading pharmaceutical company established in India in 1935. He graduated with honours from Cambridge University in 1957 and continued to a PhD in 1960 under the tutelage of the Nobel Laureate, Alexander Todd.

Over the past 6 decades, he has been instrumental in the growth, development, implementation and adaption of science in the indigenous pharma industry in India. He has commercially synthesized many essential drugs by developing patent non-infringing processes in diverse areas, steroids, antibiotics, HIV/AIDS, respiratory and oncology drugs. In the late 1990’s, a major achievement was the novel syntheses of 3 anti-retroviral drugs and combining them into a single dose therapy, making treatment efficacious and affordable. This resulted in saving millions of lives in Africa alone.

For his humanitarian approach in providing access to affordable healthcare, he has received several lifetime achievement awards and honours in India and Internationally. In 2004, Honorary Fellowship, Christ’s College, Cambridge; 2005, Padma Bhushan, 3rd highest civilian award, Government of India; 2012, Honorary Fellowship, Royal Society of Chemistry; 2013, Honoured by NDTV as one of India’s 25 greatest living legends; 2014, Honorary Doctorate, Cambridge University; 2016, First Alumni medal, Department of Chemistry, Cambridge University; 2017, Public Health Hero award from Columbia University, USA; 2017, Honorary Doctorate of Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.