Namrita Lall

Namrita Lall is an Indian–South African botanist and pharmacologist who is professor of plant sciences at the University of Pretoria. She is an expert in medicinal plant science. At the University of Pretoria, she holds the South African Research Chair for Plant Health Products from Indigenous Knowledge Systems and leads a research group that is active in bioprospecting, particularly in respect of cosmeceuticals and tuberculosis and cancer treatments.

Background Lall was born and raised in India. She attended the University of Transkei, where she completed her undergraduate degree and a Master of Science in botany. Her master's thesis, entitled "A study of morphological and enzymatic changes in Impatiens flanaganiae grown under different light conditions", won a Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science Medal for Original Master's Research in 1996.

In 1997, Lall joined the University of Pretoria, After completing her PhD in 2001, she remained at the University of Pretoria's Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, first as a lecturer and later as a professor.

She currently holds the South African Research Chair for Plant Health Products from Indigenous Knowledge Systems, which is hosted at the University of Pretoria as part of the South African Research Chair Initiative to encourage progress in research by public universities.

Research Lall is an NRF-rated researcher and has edited four books about medicinal plants.

Her research group places significant emphasis on bioprospecting, drug discovery via validation of ethnopharmocological findings, and the commercialisation of active ingredients for pharmaceuticals and cosmeceuticals. As of 2023, her lab had developed 19 prototype extracts, with various applications, that underwent extensive research and development; eleven were patented in South Africa or abroad.

In August 2011, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) honoured her at its annual Women in Science Awards, giving her the Distinguished Women in Science Award in the category of indigenous knowledge systems.

In October 2021, University of Pretoria Vice-Chancellor Tawana Kupe presented Lall with the university's Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellent Supervision, which recognises exceptional supervision as measured by the achievements of the supervisor's postgraduate research students.