Our Vision
Provision of Life Transforming Healthcare Solutions for Africa
Our Mission
To be a pan African Institute of excellence in Biomedical Sciences, Technologies and Tertiary Education towards the provision of healthcare solutions for Africa
ABOUT AIBST
The African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, AiBST, is a research and education institute with a mission to discover, develop and deploy innovative healthcare solutions for Africa. Combining postgraduate education and biomedical R&D is enabling AiBST to operate in an environment which still requires capacity and capability building with respect to skilled manpower and research infrastructure,whilst conducting translational research to deliver on medical products and servicesthat address Africa’s healthcare challenges.
AiBST was founded in 2002 by Professor Collen Masimirembwa. Its initial were the organisation of courses on the science and technology of drug discovery and development. The first course was in Cape Town (South Africa) in 2002 and focused on ADMET for drug discovery. The second one was in Nairobi (Kenya) in 2003 focusing on Pharmacogenetics of Drug Metabolism. The courses generated tremendous interest among African scientists resulting in them forming the African Society for Drug Metabolism and Development (ASDMD) at the meeting in Cape Town and the African Pharmacogenomics Consortium at the meeting in Nairobi.
AiBST demonstrated a viable interface African researchers and international academics and industrialists could work together to establish capacity for biopharmaceutical R&D in Africa. With support from pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Merck, funding organizations such as WHO-TDR, CDC(Atlanta), ISP, EDCTP, NIH, SANBIO, BfArM and TWAS, AiBST established state-of- the-art biomedical research laboratories and a Phase I Clinical Trial Unit in Zimbabwe.AiBST has now established itself as both a pioneer and champion in the fields of Genomic and Pharmaceutical Medicine, Forensic Science and Molecular Diagnostics.
It also has a vibrant postgraduate training program at Masters and PhD level which innovatively uses a Global Faculty of experts from academia and industry to produce the next generation of African biomedical scientists. Research scientists at AiBST have won many national, regional and international awards for their innovations. This is making it the partner of choice for regional and international universities and biomedical companies wishing to tackle the most challenging biomedical research question in Africa or wishing to deploy innovative solutions on the African continent.