Shavkat Salikhov

Shavkat Ismoilovich Salikhov was born on 12 December 1944 in Tashkent. He graduated from Tashkent State University (now the National University of Uzbekistan) in 1967 and spent his whole scientific career in bioorganic chemistry.

At the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan he rose from researcher to head of laboratory (1981) and director (1993–2006). He received the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences in 1984, the title of professor in 1989, and was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in 1995. His specialty is the chemistry of toxins and bioorganic chemistry.

Under his leadership the structure and mode of action of biologically active substances were studied, and on that basis more than ten original medicinal preparations were created, among them antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs and agents that improve blood clotting. He is the author of more than 350 scientific papers and two monographs, holds 56 inventions and more than 40 patents, and trained seven doctors and about twenty-five candidates of science.

From 12 March 2006 to 10 January 2017 he served as President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. During those years he also chaired the committee coordinating the development of science and technology under the Cabinet of Ministers and, from 2006, sat in the Senate of the Oliy Majlis.

In 2017 Salikhov was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the first scientist from Uzbekistan to receive that distinction. His honours include the title of Honoured Scientist of the Republic of Uzbekistan (1998) and the orders El-yurt hurmati (2008) and Mehnat shuhrati (2014). After his term as President of the Academy he continued to work at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry.