Internationally renowned diabetes expert Professor Shahidul Islam is among UKZN’s newest cohort of Fellows for his significant contributions to diabetes research and commitment to finding sustainable, natural treatments for one of the most pressing global public health challenges.
The Fellowship of UKZN is awarded to professors and senior professors in recognition of distinguished academic achievement and the production of high-quality, original and creative scholarly work.
Islam joined UKZN’s Discipline of Biochemistry in 2008 after completing postdoctoral fellowships at Seoul National University in South Korea and North-West University in South Africa. His more than 20 years of experience since completing his undergraduate, honours and master’s studies in Biochemistry at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh and his PhD in Nutritional Science at Okayama University in Japan has included work as a research scientist and consultant nutritionist. He has also participated in visiting research fellowships with the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in Hyderabad, India, and the University of Basel in Switzerland.
At UKZN, he steadily advanced from lecturer to full professor, and has served as the Academic Leader of the Biotechnology Cluster in the School of Life Sciences since early 2018, being appointed to this leadership position thanks to progressive personal and group performance.
Islam’s research focuses on Type 2 diabetes and obesity, with an emphasis on developing innovative therapeutic strategies. He has established novel and alternative animal models to study these conditions and conducts intervention trials using functional and medicinal foods, alternative sweeteners, medicinal plant extracts, and both natural and synthetic pure compounds. He aims to uncover their antidiabetic and anti-obesogenic effects and underlying molecular mechanisms, with the goal of developing improved food supplements and alternative antidiabetic drugs for more effective disease management.
The nature of his work, which has applications worldwide, has attracted collaboration from countries including the USA, Australia, China, Switzerland, India, Japan, Nigeria, Tanzania and many more.
Islam serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Diabetes and a guest editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology and Frontiers in Chemistry, with editorial duties on Bioresearch Communications and the Food and Nutrition Report. He has been awarded a C1 rating by the National Research Foundation of South Africa, has an h-index of 47, and more than 10 141 citations.
He received the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science Distinguished Teachers’ Award in 2015 and was featured among UKZN’s Top 30 Published Researchers in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. He has also achieved awards from the International Endocrine Society, Korean Endocrine Society, Japan Diabetes Society, Japanese Society for Surgical Metabolism and Nutrition, National Diabetes Institute Malaysia, the Pacific Science Association, Diabetes Asia, and the International Diabetes Federation.
Islam has consistently featured in the Global Top 2% Researcher list and is currently ranked as the Top 0.014% Global Researcher in the field of Experimental Diabetes Mellitus by Expertscape.com.
Islam has published 15 peer-reviewed book chapters and more than 230 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals, including 15 reviews and many editorials. He has also established a “Biomedical Research Group” at UKZN and successfully supervised the research projects of more than 50 postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
‘I would like to thank the University for recognising me as a Fellow for my contributions over the last 16 years; I feel honoured and privileged to receive one of its highest honours,’ said Islam.
‘It will inspire me significantly to make even better contributions through research, teaching, administration and community service, not only to the University but also to the people of South Africa. I would like to thank all my colleagues, mentors, postgraduate students and fellows, research collaborators, family and friends for the support in achieving this milestone.’
Words: Christine Cuénod
Photograph: Sethu Dlamini
