Dr. Romilla Maharaj

Romilla Maharaj was born in Pietermaritzburg where she completed her primary and secondary schooling. Her interest in the physical and natural sciences was influenced and encouraged by her teachers and family. She obtained a Higher National Diploma in Applied Biology and an honours degree in biochemistry in the United Kingdom, this being made possible through the support of the United Nations Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africans.

She returned to South Africa and pursued her interests in molecular biology through her doctoral studies under the supervision of Professors Dave Woods and Frank Robb in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Cape Town. She then spent one year as a postdoctoral Cancer Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town Medical School and two years as a postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Dr Maharaj returned to her hometown in 1991 to take up a position as lecturer in the Department of Biochemisty at the former University of Natal Faculty of Agriculture. In this position she developed and ran undergraduate and postgraduate training programmes in molecular biology, designed and established a molecular biology laboratory, mentored undergraduate and postgraduate students and supervised Master’s level postgraduate students.

In 1996 she joined the Medical Research Council (MRC) where she was instrumental in developing and implementing a Research Development Programme. During her eight years at the MRC she served on the Executive Management Committee and empowered herself for this position by obtaining a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Cape Town. She has mentored several male and female colleagues at both junior and very senior levels.

In September 2004 she joined the Human Sciences Research Council as an Executive Director heading the strategic functions in the office of the President and Chief Executive Officer. In this position she was able to bring together her training, experience and insights in academia, research and management.

Dr Maharaj currently heads the Human and Institutional Capacity Development Directorate at the National Research Foundation.