Professor Sharon Prince is a leading South African (SA) cancer biologist and former Deputy Dean of Research and Head of the Department of Human Biology at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She holds a PhD in Cell Biology from UCT and completed postdoctoral training in the United Kingdom on a prestigious Wellcome Trust Fellowship. Since establishing her independent research programme at UCT in 2002, she has built a highly productive laboratory. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive aggressive and treatment resistant cancers that pose a huge health burden in Africa, especially in women living with HIV, such as breast and cervical cancer. She has pioneered high-throughput drug repurposing to identify affordable agents suitable for rapid translation in low-resource settings, while also developing innovative patented anticancer compounds, marine-derived therapeutics and aptamer-based inhibitors. With over one hundred peer-reviewed publications, Sharon’s research has shaped national and international cancer science.
Sharon has received considerable recognition for her sustained professional and research excellence. These include being appointed to the SA Medical Research Council (MRC) Board (2025) and receiving the A.G. Oettlé Memorial Award (2025) from the Cancer Association of SA; the SA MRC Gold Medal (2023); and the National Research Foundation Hamilton Naki Award (2021). She has been elected a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences (from 2026) and elected a member of the UCT College of Fellows (2022) and the Academy of Science of South Africa (2017) and was recognised by UCT as one of its leading women innovators. She has mentored more than 100 emerging scientists, and some are now leading independent research programmes and contributing to African and global research. She continues to mentor a large cohort of postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows, most of whom are from the continent.
