Daneel Ferreira graduated (B.Sc.) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 1964, and completed the B.Sc.(Hons.), M.Sc. and D.Sc (1973) programs of the Chemistry Department, University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein through part time studies. In 1969 he was appointed as Technical Assistant in the Chemistry Department at UOFS, and progressed through the ranks to Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1985, serving as chairperson of the Chemistry Department from 1994 - 1997. He spent 1977 as a Visiting Lecturer at Imperial College, London where he worked under the supervision of the Nobel laureate, the late Sir Derek Barton, and was awarded the Diploma of Imperial College for his work on the synthesis of aminoglycoside antibiotics. As an A-rated scientist he was invited to establish a Research Unit for Polyphenol and Synthetic Chemistry at UOFS by the Foundation for Research Development, Pretoria, South Africa, and was duly appointed as Director in 1990. He held this position until 1999, when he joined the Thad Cochran National Center for Natural Products Research at The University of Mississippi, U.S.A., as Visiting Scholar. In 2000, he was promoted to Principal Scientist and then appointed as Chair of The Department of Pharmacognosy in April, 2004.