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HIMLA SOODYALL
DIRECTOR: MRC/NHLS/WITS Human Genomic
Diversity and Disease Research Unit
National Health Laboratory Service and
University of the Witwatersrand,
P O Box, 1038, JOHANNESBURG, 2000
Tel: 27-11-489-9208 Fax: 27-11-489-9226
Email: hxsood@global.co.za
Himla
Soodyall was born in Durban and matriculated at the Gandhi-Desai
High School in Durban. She obtained a B.Sc degree majoring in
microbiology and biochemistry in 1984 and a B.Sc (Hons) degree
in microbiology in 1985, both at the University of
Durban-Westville. She came to Johannesburg in 1986 to pursue a
Masters degree in Biotechnology at the University of the
Witwatersrand (Wits). In 1987 she joined the South African
Institute for Medical Research (SAIMR), as a medical scientist
and worked with Prof Trefor Jenkins in the department of Human
Genetics. Under his guidance and mentorship she completed her
doctoral research (part-time) in the field of human population
and evolutionary genetics and graduated with a PhD degree from
Wits in 1993. Thereafter (1993-1996) she conducted postdoctoral
research with Prof Mark Stoneking (one of the first researchers
who advanced the “Out of Africa” hypothesis concerning human
origins) at Penn State University (USA) under the auspices of a
Fogarty International Fellowship from the National Institutes of
Health (USA).
Himla returned to the SAIMR in 1996 and
started her own laboratory focusing on population and
evolutionary genetics research within the department of Human
Genetics. In 1999 she received the Presidents Award from the NRF
and the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research from Wits. In 2001
the MRC established the Human Genomic Diversity and Disease
Research Unit (HGDDRU), in partnership with the National Health
Laboratory Service (NHLS, formerly SAIMR) and Wits, under her
directorship. She is currently a Principal Medical Scientist at
the NHLS and holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor at
Wits. Her research make use of the tools commonly used in
molecular biology to study segments of the human genome in
living people, to reconstruct the prehistory and evolution of
modern humans. By using different types of DNA markers, her
research has shown that living Khoi and San populations have
retained some of the ancestral DNA signatures found in modern
humans, making southern Africa the most likely geographic region
for the origin of our species.
Himla is eager to take on various
challenges both as an academic and a humanitarian. She is always
willing to engage scholars and the general public in
understanding her research. She is a much sought after public
speaker and the passion with which she conducts her research is
infectious. Her laboratory conducted the research featured in
the M-Net documentary in September 2004 “So, Where do we come
from?”. Himla has served, and continues to serve, on various
committees to advance research in South Africa and plays an
active role in the public understanding of science. She is a
role model to female academics in South Africa. Himla has been
invited by the National Geographic Society to participate in the
global Genographic Project, as the sub-Saharan African Principal
Investigator, which was launched on 13 April 2005. The National
Geographic Society in partnership with IBM and the Waitt Family
Foundation is conducting this five-year project. She is also the
South African representative on the Intergovernmental Bioethics
Committee at UNESCO. She is to receive the Order of Mapungubwe:
Bronze from President Mbeki at the Union Buildings on the 27th
of September, 2005, for outstanding contribution in the field of
science and for inspiring all South Africans.
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