Meeting a mentor in Seattle

Prof Alan Aderem is an idol and mentor to Prof Tulio de Oliveira.  Aderem joined the anti-apartheid movement as a teen in South Africa. He played a role in trade unions and community movements, and edited a township newspaper. Aderem was banned and put under house arrest for 5 years from 1977 to 1982.

In 2012, Aderem became president of Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (Seattle BioMed). Aderem co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology with Leroy Hood and Ruedi Aebersold in 2000 and served as its director until 2011. The ISB, the first institute for systems biology worldwide, focuses on a holistic understanding of biology, health, and disease.

When Prof Tulio de Oliveira founded KRISP at UKZN, Aderem was a mentor, who spent 100s of hours providing mentorship on how to build world leading research institutes.

As Prof de Oliveira visited Seattle in April 2025, he spent many hours with Prof Aderem to discuss ideas about science, leadership and how to make a positive impact in the world.