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Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem

Dr Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem

Associate Professor of Chemistry (tenured), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, SBA School of Science and Engineering, LUMS

ORCID 0000-0002-9615-4471 | Google Scholar | LinkedIn

Dr Saleem is a medicinal chemist who has led an independent, synthesis-led research group at LUMS since 2012. His group designs small molecules that remain active against drug-resistant disease: microtubule-targeting agents that overcome P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance, kinase inhibitors and chemical probes, and molecular glue degraders and PROTACs. From 2024 to 2025 he was Research Project Coordinator at the UCL School of Pharmacy within the NIH-funded READDI-AC AViDD Center.

Appointments

  • 2020–present: Associate Professor of Chemistry (tenured), LUMS
  • 2024–2025: Research Project Coordinator, READDI-AC AViDD Center, School of Pharmacy, UCL, UK
  • 2023–2024: DAAD Fellow, Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (host: Prof. Stefan Knapp)
  • 2012–2020: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, LUMS
  • 2016 and 2019: DAAD Fellow, Saarland University, Germany (host: Prof. Claus Jacob)
  • 2014: Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK (host: Prof. David Spring)
  • 2012: Visiting Faculty and Postdoctoral Research Visitor, University of Bristol, UK (host: Prof. Timothy Gallagher)

Education

  • PhD in Chemistry, Michigan State University, USA (2011), with Prof. Jetze J. Tepe; Fulbright PhD Fellow
  • MPhil in Chemistry, GC University Lahore (2004)
  • MSc in Chemistry, GC University Lahore (2002)

Awards and honours

  • 2026: Editor of Distinction Award, Springer Nature
  • 2024: LUMS 10-Year Service Award
  • 2023, 2019, 2016: DAAD Research Stays for University Academics and Scientists
  • 2022: Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award, LUMS
  • 2021: Bashir-Alavi Award for the best cancer research paper from Pakistan (Br. J. Cancer 2021)
  • 2014: Herchel Smith Fellowship, University of Cambridge
  • 2006–2011: Fulbright PhD Fellowship
  • 2003: Orient Dr Ata-ur-Rahman Chemistry Award and Gold Medal
  • 2002: Prof. Abdul Rashid Tariq Gold Medal, GC University Lahore

Editorial and professional roles

  • Section Editor, Heterocyclic Communications (2026–2028)
  • Editorial Board Member, BMC Chemistry (2021–present) and Current Nutraceuticals (2019–present)
  • Review Editor, Frontiers in Chemistry (2022–2026)
  • Faculty Advisor, American Chemical Society LUMS Chapter

Interviews and talks

Chemical genealogy

Doctoral and academic lineage from the 18th-century Paris school of Rouelle and Lavoisier, through Harvard, Illinois and Gilbert Stork, to the group at LUMS. Years shown are degree years.

Paris and Harvard, 1725–18488 generations
  1. Guillaume François Rouelle (1703–1770)
    Apothecary 1725, Paris
  2. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794)
    LLB 1764, Paris
  3. Jean Baptiste Michel Bucquet (1746–1780)
    MD 1770, Paris
  4. Antoine François de Fourcroy (1755–1809)
    MD 1780, Paris
  5. Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829)
    MA 1790, Paris
  6. Louis Jacques Thénard (1777–1857)
    MA 1797, Paris
  7. Jean Baptiste André Dumas (1800–1884)
    1823, Geneva
  8. Josiah Parsons Cooke (1827–1894)
    AB 1848, Harvard
  1. Charles Loring Jackson (1847–1935)
    MA 1871, Harvard
  2. Henry Augustus Torrey (1871–1910)
    PhD 1897, Harvard
  3. Roger Adams (1889–1971)
    PhD 1912, Harvard
  4. Samuel Marion McElvain (1897–1973)
    PhD 1923, Illinois
  5. Gilbert J. Stork (1921–2017)
    PhD 1946, Wisconsin
  6. Timothy Lee MacDonald
    PhD 1975, Columbia
  7. Jetze J. Tepe (b. 1968)
    PhD 1998, Virginia; Michigan State 2000–
  8. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem
    PhD 2011, Michigan State; LUMS 2012–

PhD graduates from our group