Stuart John Saunders (28 August 1931 – 12 February 2021) was a South African academic and vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town from 1981 to 1996.

He was then appointed to a full-time post in the University of Cape Town's department of medicine in 1961 and received his MD in 1965 for a thesis entitled ‘The effect of sugars on amino acid transport’.

As vice chancellor he opened up the residences of the university to students of all races (technically an infringement of the Group Areas Act).

He also received honorary degrees from the universities of Aberdeen, Sheffield, Rhodes, Princeton and Toronto.

[2] His publications include: He wrote over two hundred articles and co-authored a study that has become a classical reference in the field of liver research.