Clinton Veale | School of Chemistry

After graduating from the MSc Medicinal and Biological Chemistry programme in 2010, Clinton returned to South Africa, graduating with a PhD in Organic Chemistry at Rhodes University in 2014. He is currently an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town.

Name	Clinton Veale
Degree	MSc Medicinal and Biological Chemistry
Year of graduation	2010

Your Time at the University

I fondly remember my time as a student at UoE as a period of immense creativity and opportunity. This was not just with respect to the quality of teaching, research and access to state of the art instrumentation but also through discussions with researchers, both new and experienced, who gave interesting insight into what a career at a university might entail. In addition to the many life-long friends I made in the school of Chemistry, I made an effort to connect with fellow students from outside chemistry, who were a mix of local and international students which also gave a fresh feel to the experience

Studying at UoE is inexorably linked to the vibrant lifestyles of Edinburgh. While the festival is an obvious highlight of any time spent in Edinburgh, the breath-taking beauty of the city and multiple cultural and public spaces to enjoy made the entire experience particularly special.

Your Experiences Since Leaving the University

After completing my MSc I returned to South Africa to pursue a PhD in Organic Chemistry at Rhodes University. Following this I was appointed as a lecturer in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Rhodes, and in 2018 I was appointed as a senior lecturer in Organic Chemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2022, I joined the University of Cape Town as an associate professor of Organic Chemistry. From a research perspective, I have focussed on chemical biology and drug discovery projects which attempt to explore 'undruggable' targets, especially for neglected disease. With financial support from the Royal Society I have been able to grow a collaboration with Professor David Clarke in the School of Chemistry, where we have developed native mass spectrometry methods for characterising and drugging transient protein-protein interactions.

Alumni Wisdom

Take the time to build relationships with your classmates and lab colleagues. Help out in the lab, even in tasks not related to your own project. This will be an opportunity to learn new skills or approaches to research as well as potentially the seed for new research ideas.

This article was published on 2023-10-16