Yusuf Hamied was born in Lithuania and raised in India before coming to Christ’s College, matriculating in 1954. Completing his PhD in organic chemistry under Lord Todd in 1960, Dr Hamied joined Cipla, a socially conscious company founded by his father and producing generic pharmaceuticals, becoming Managing Director in 1976 and Chairman in 1989. An outstanding career in the life science industry followed, during which he pioneered the manufacture of affordable drugs to allow the poor to fight AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. The recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from Anacon, Express Pharma, Biospectrum and E&Y, Yusuf Hamied was CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2012. Instrumental in driving successful academic collaboration between India and Cambridge, he is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the significance and scope of his achievements earned him the Padma Bhushan from the President of India in 2005.
Dr Hamied was given an Honorary Degree, the highest honour that the University of Cambridge can bestow, by the Chancellor, Lord Sainsbury, at a ceremony at the Senate House on Wednesday 17 June 2014.
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