Nor Hadiani is a Professor of Chemistry at the Faculty of Applied Sciences and is currently the Director of Atta-ur-Rahman Institute for Natural Products Discovery, Universiti Teknologi MARA. She obtained BSc (Honours Chemistry), from University of Waterloo, Canada and PhD from Universiti Putra Malaysia. For her PHD work, she received Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui Postgraduate Medal for best postgraduate thesis 1999 by Institut Kimia Malaysia. Her expertise is in the area of organic chemistry and natural products chemistry with research interests spanning from the chemistry and biological properties of medicinal plants to synthesis of bioactive molecules. She has published more than 150 articles in refereed journals and regularly presents her research findings in national and international conferences.

With a strong belief that new knowledge is created and best learned through well planned and strategic research, Nor Hadiani spends a significant part of her time training and supervising postgraduate students. Together with her students, they pursue and explore cutting edge developments in natural product isolation, structure elucidation, synthesis and biological functions of natural molecules using modern instrumentation and technologies. Mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic analysis are employed for profiling of crude extracts and dereplication of natural products, leaving the expensive and labor intensive isolation work only for targeted search of valuable natural products. Comprehensive studies on complex chemical composition of medicinal plants are now conducted using holistic approach of systems biology making use of LCMS and NMR metabolomics platforms.

As Vice President of Malaysian Natural Products Society, Nor Hadiani plays an active role in promoting natural product science, bridging the knowledge gaps on the chemical, biological and pharmacological characteristics of local medicinal plants, vital for value creation of our biodiversity heritage. For her contributions to chemistry education and promotion of chemistry profession, she was elected Fellow of Institut Kimia Malaysia (IKM) in 2012. She was recognized as Top Research Scientist Malaysia (TRSM) 2017 Akademi Sains Malaysia (ASM).