19 Facts About Wieland Gevers

Wieland Gevers is emeritus professor of medical biochemistry at the University of Cape Town, where he has taught since 1978.

Wieland Gevers was a deputy vice-chancellor of the same university between 1992 and 2002.

Wieland Gevers was born on 9 October 1937 in Piet Retief in the former Transvaal Province.

Wieland Gevers matriculated in 1954 at Nigel High School in Nigel on the East Rand, and he was the top matriculant in the province that year.

Wieland Gevers enrolled at the University of Cape Town the following year.

Wieland Gevers was the president of the Medical Students' Council from 1959 to 1960.

From 1969 to 1970, Wieland Gevers joined Rockefeller University in New York City as a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow.

Wieland Gevers remained there until 1970, working in Fritz Lipmann's lab; with Horst Kleinkauf, he researched non-ribosomal biosynthesis of peptide antibiotics.

Wieland Gevers returned to South Africa later in 1970 and spent a brief period in the department of chemical pathology at UCT.

Wieland Gevers founded the university's department of medical biochemistry, and he was the founding director of the university's research unit for molecular and cellular cardiology, funded by the Medical Research Council.

Wieland Gevers was a visiting professor of pathology at the University of Chicago in 1984 and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology from 1971 to 1993.

Wieland Gevers's duties included representing the university sector at SAQA, and he helped found the Cape Higher Education Consortium.

Wieland Gevers retired at the end of 2002, but nonetheless remained at UCT: from 2003 to 2005, he was the interim director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine ahead of the institute's official launch.

Thereafter, in his retirement, Wieland Gevers continued to serve voluntarily in professional service roles.

Wieland Gevers was the founding president of the South African Biochemical Society.

Wieland Gevers was the president of Royal Society of South Africa from 1987 to 1989 and the president of the Academy of Science of South Africa from 1998 to 2004.

Wieland Gevers received UCT's Distinguished Teachers Award in 1982 and became a life fellow of the university in 1984.

Wieland Gevers holds honorary doctorates from UCT, the University of Port Elizabeth, and University of Stellenbosch.

Wieland Gevers is married to Elizabeth Ellen Gevers and has four children.