11 September 2026
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Story Andre Damons
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Photo Supplied
Prof Hester C. Klopper, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, delivered the welcome address at the opening ceremony of the 59th Conference of the South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology.
Africa and the University of the Free State (UFS) has things to offer the world and that is science, knowledge and indigenous knowledge. The University of the Free State (UFS) wants to be a leader on this front.
The conference, under the theme “Inclusivity, Innovation, Internationalisation for Integrative Medicine – Pharmacology at the Forefront”, kicked off on Monday with the annual general meeting of the SACBCP, a tour of the AMITD facility and laboratories as well as a welcome dinner. Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), the national Departments of Health (DoH), and Science Technology and Innovation (DSTI) were present at the conference. Delegates came from as far as Bolivia, New Zealand, Nigeria, India, Germany, China, Lesotho, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Cuba, Brazil, Ghana, Botswana, Italy and Tanzania to attend the conference.
Dr Kenny Tenza, Acting Deputy Director-General: Technology Innovation at the DSTI; Jeanette Hunter, Deputy Director General at the DoH; Monyatso Mahlatsi, MEC for Health in the Free State; Prof Mmamosheledi Madiba, SASBCP President; and Dr Noor Zakhura, Clinical Manager at the Free State Department of Health, were among the guests at the opening dinner. Prof Hester C. Klopper, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, together with Profs Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies; Anthea Rhoda, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic; Sam Tshehla, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Institutional Change, Strategic Partnerships and Societal Impact; Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Executive Director: Advancement, as well Prof Deliwe Phetlhu, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, were also present.
“We want to internationalise one thing: patient care. We are saying Africa has something to give to the world and that thing is its science, knowledge and its indigenous knowledge. The University of the Free State wants to be a leader in that,” said Prof Motlalepula.
According to him, the University of the Free State wanted to partner with delegates and participants at the conference, contribute to the development of science and the development of medicines. They want to create medicine that people need and that groundbreaking ideas could come from working together as partners and equals.
African traditional medicine part of continent’s health heritage and an active field of scientific inquiry
Delivering the welcome address, Prof Klopper, said the conference brings science and innovation into conversation, and it is increasingly at these intersections that meaningful advances in health and medicine are being made. It creates deliberate space for African traditional and complementary medicine to engage directly with contemporary health science, clinical practice, and regulation.
Prof Klopper said the programme demonstrates precisely why pharmacology cannot be confined to a single discipline. With pharmacology at its centre, the UFS is strengthening its contribution to an inclusive, innovative, and internationally connected future for integrative medicine.
“Our vision becomes real when innovation improves access, when African scholarship is strengthened through international collaboration, and when different knowledge systems are given the space to engage seriously with one another. This conference gives us an opportunity to see exactly what this can look like.
“One of the privileges of leading this University is seeing how the work that begins in a laboratory can find its way into patient care and, sometimes, into the communities that need it most. This makes pharmacology so rewarding. We see its value in the ways scientific discovery improves human life,” said Prof Klopper.
Through in the Department of Pharmacology, she continued, the University contributes to traditional medicine drug discovery and development, including efficacy and safety research, clinical trials, regulatory affairs, and product development.
“African traditional medicine is both part of our continent’s health heritage and an active field of scientific inquiry. Internationally, the university contributes to the World Health Organization’s work on traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine, including leadership in regulation and a global research project with the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in India.
“The institution’s research products have been recognised through the WHO Heritage to Health initiative for further development and commercialisation, and the department has also played an instrumental role in efforts to establish the BRICS Natural Medicines Institute.”
The UFS Department of Pharmacology has also contributed nationally to specialist training through its involvement in drafting the first workplace-based assessment framework to support clinical pharmacology training within the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa programme. This expertise extends directly to patient care. Through the Clinical Pharmacology Consultation Service, the department provides specialist advice on medicines, adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, poisoning, and toxicology. This consultation service is one of only three operational poison and drug information services in South Africa.
The University’s traditional medicines research is also contributing to policy and benefiting communities, including work linked to the Presidential Cannabis and Hemp Development Masterplan. What is particularly meaningful is that some of these projects involve four communities and 40 families in the Eastern Cape and North West.
Pharmacologists are key stakeholders
The conference promised and delivered a scientific programme that was both stimulating and forward-looking, featuring cutting‑edge research, high‑quality plenary sessions, interactive workshops, and robust discussions that span the spectrum of basic, clinical, and translational pharmacology. During the duration of the conference, participants, delegates and guests explored transformative and inclusive scientific ideas, advanced new knowledge, and examined how research can drive policy and inform solutions to society’s most urgent challenges.
“Challenges are multifaceted. We can’t address them with the same one thing we always use. We need to find new ways to address these and the global challenges. With your presence at this conference, we want to show you what we can do as the UFS, what we can do for the world, and importantly, what we can do together. That’s the inclusivity I am talking about,” said Prof Matsabisa.
“I want us to forge cross-border, cross-oceanic collaborations. Take full advantage of the small discussions that happen around the corners, because discoveries rarely happen in the lab, they happen outside the labs. I want us to take advantage of this conference, to connect, to create functional, smart strategic partnerships.”
In her brief address, Prof Madiba told the guests that pharmacologists are key stakeholders when there are talks about integration. “There is no way you can talk about integration without including pharmacology. I hope you see how important it is to have African medicine information. As you do your research as South African and African researchers, know you have a big role to play, as our information is important.
“I hope that you come out of this conference having made the right connections, networking and collaboration partners. I hope you come out of here wiser as practitioners and as researchers because our research needs to be meaningful and impactful, not just for us as scientists, but also for the communities, broader society and globally. We have an impact to make and a role to play.”
Conference for the benefit of humankind
Mahlatsi said he hoped all the information and discussion coming from this conference will be for the betterment and benefit of the country and humankind. “The conference will define how we see medicine and treatment of different ailments and that will assist us to manage new diseases in an effective manner and ensure we are assisting in driving the policy objectives of the Department of Health in the Free State, whose intention it is improve the lives of all Free Staters.
“We might be from different parts of the world, but the ailments we face, demands that we come closer, we cooperate, collaborate and walk together into the future.”