Himla Soodyall

Himla (Himladevi) Soodyall (b Durban, 1963^[1]) is a South African geneticist involved in finding some of the oldest human genetic lines, mainly focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa.^[2]

She is Director of the Human Genomic Diversity and Disease Research Laboratory, National Health Laboratory Service and University of the Witwatersrand.^[3] She was awarded a Bronze Order of Mapungubwe in 2005 for her "Outstanding contributions in the field of science" in South Africa.

Education

Soodyall was educated at Gandhi-Desai High School before obtaining a BSc at the University of Durban and an MSc in biotechnology from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her PhD, on human population and evolutionary genetics, was obtained in 1993 under the supervision of Trefor Jenkins^[1].

Career

Soodyall spent 4 years at Pennsylvania State University doing postdoctoral research with Mark Stoneking, before returning to South Africa in 1996 to set up her own laboratory at the South African Institute for Medical Research (now the National Health Laboratory Service).

Publications

Himla Soodyall is the author of "A Walk in the Garden of Eden".

References