Haitham is medicinal chemist by training and passionate explorer of biology. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Science at Fayoum University in Egypt. Through the Erasmus Mundus program, he completed his master’s degree at both Fayoum University and the University of Graz in Austria. He later obtained his PhD from the University of Bordeaux in France, focusing on the total synthesis of natural products using free radical reactions.

Haitham has contributed to several drug discovery programs. At the University of Leeds, he was part of the European Lead Factory project, developing lead-like scaffolds for various targets. At the University of Paris Descartes in France, he worked on developing Avibactam analogues. His work at the Institute Pasteur in Paris involved DNA methylation inhibitors and antimalarial drugs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was part of the Institute Pasteur-Lille Task Force team, working on developing pan-inhibitors against coronaviruses. Most recently, Haitham joined the Northern Cancer Research Institute at Newcastle University to develop DNA-encoded libraries for early-stage drug discovery programs.

Haitham is a member of the Sussex Drug Discovery Center (SDDC). Our research group is dedicated to drug discovery, with a focus on delivering significant outcomes for patients and the scientific community. Currently, we are developing DNA-encoded libraries (DELs), which play a crucial role in advancing and accelerating target/ligand identification in the early stages of drug discovery.

Haitham is facilitating the delivery of the MSc course in Drug Discovery & Synthesis as the course convener.

Our Lab is Very International, see below:

Lab Members

PhD Students

Maria Staikopoulou (2024-2028), Greece 

Mohammed Otayfah (PhD 2026), Saudi Arabia

Research Assistant 

Yasaman Haji Mirzaei (MSc Drug Discovery 24/25), Iran

MSc Students 

Abhini Prathapan (MSc Drug Discovery 25/26), India

Abdur Rahman (MSc Drug Discovery 25/26), Pakistan

Summer Internships 

Irene Thongsuwan (international JRA, summer 26), Thailand

Jessica Talty-Kerr (JRA, summer 26), UK

Christina Oneill (JRA, summer 26), UK

Previous Lab Members 

Eleanor King (MSc Drug Discovery 24/25), UK

Zhong Yuhan (international JRA, summer 25), China

Abigail Flowers (JRA, summer 24), UK