Rachel Chikwamba

Rachel Kerina Chikwamba is a Zimbabwean plant geneticist born in 1967. She is in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication. She is an active member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Research and career Chikwamba obtained an undergraduate degree in Crop Science from the University of Zimbabwe, and later graduated from the University of Queensland with a master's degree. In 2002, she obtained her PhD in genetics from Iowa State University, with a dissertation exploring the production of novel proteins in plants. She then worked as a post-doctoral research associate at Arizona State University's Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccinology within the Biodesign Institute.

Chikwamba's research involves plant manufactured pharmaceuticals and metabolic engineering.

In October 2011, she was made CSIR Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication, and in this capacity she managed partnerships, stakeholder interactions, and associated communication. She also held the position of CSIR Group Executive: Chemicals, Agriculture, Food and Health. In late 2019, Chikwamba was elected the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), but for personal reasons did not take up the position.

During her career, Chikwamba was also a lecturer with the University of Pretoria's Departments of Plant Science, of Botany, and of Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI). on the African Union's High Level African Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET), on the Global Governing Board of ICRISAT, and on the Board of Directors of the Wits Health Consortium.