Bioinorganic chemistry has a rich history dating back to the 1970s at WITS University with research and scholarly contributions from John Pratt, David Baldwin, Timothy Egan (who, despite chemotherapy, lost his battle with a rare kidney cancer in the first week of May 2022), and Helder Marques (to name a few) over many decades. Numerous students have passed through the group over the years and have excelled under the mentorship from these luminaries.

Going back in living memory, Professor Helder Marques did his PhD under the mentorship of Professor John Pratt in the 1980s before going on sabbatical (Mississippi State University, USA) in the early 1990s and returning as the discipline leader. The current SARChI Chair of Bioinorganic Chemistry studied with Professor Helder Marques as a PhD student (1990-1995) before spending time as a postdoctoral research fellow in Professor W. Robert Scheidt's group at the University of Notre Dame (USA) and then returning to the RSA to start an independent academic career in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Natal (1997).

Things have now come full circle with Helder the Emeritus Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry and Professor Munro the current leader of the discipline at WITS since 2015.