Research page 

Iqbal Parker obtained his PhD in Biochemistry in 1979, completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Gary Stein in the USA and returned to join the Department of Medical Biochemistry in 1981 where he was subsequently appointed as the DG Murray Chair of Cancer Research. He was also promoted Ad Hominem to full Professor in Medical Biochemistry.  He has been Director of the MRC Oesophageal Cancer Research Unit since 1998 and was awarded the DST/NRF Research Chair in Cancer Biology in 2007.
 
Professor Parker is a Professor in the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Structural Biology at the University of Cape Town. He is the founding Director of the Cape Town Component of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (2007-2016). Prior to accepting this position, he was Head of the Department of Medical Biochemistry and the Director of Research for the Health Science Faculty at the University of Cape Town. 

He is a founder member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and served as General Secretary (2000-2004) and Vice President (2010 – 2016), a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). He served on the international jury panel for the Loreal/UNESCO Awards for Women in Science (1997-2002) and is currently a member of the International Scientific Advisory Committees of the UNESCO International Centre for Biotechnology in Nsukka, Nigeria and the UNESCO Biotechnology Centre in Tripoli, Libya.  He is a Peer Reference Group Member for the International Science Programmes (ISP) funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). He is a former President of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is the former Secretary General and current treasurer of the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and served on the Executive Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) as the Chair of the Committee on Symposia, Chair of the Wood/Whelan Travel Fellowships Committee and Chair of the Mid-Career fellowships Committee (2009 and 2015).

In 2003 he was awarded National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) award for "Outstanding Contributions in Science, Engineering and Technology", in 2004 he was awarded the South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Gold Medal for his contributions to Biochemistry and the Oettle Medal in 2009 by the Cancer Association of South Africa for significant contributions to cancer research.