Rate My Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan

Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan is a palaeobiologist in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town. She is a global expert on the microscopic structure of the bones of extinct and extant vertebrates. Her academic background includes a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1991, an MSc from the same institution, a BSc (Honours) and BSc from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a University Higher Diploma in Education from the University of Durban-Westville. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1994.

Professor Chinsamy-Turan has held various appointments at the University of Cape Town, including Professor in the Department of Zoology from 2004 and Head of the Department of Biological Sciences from 2013 to 2015. She previously served as Director of the Natural History Collections Division at Iziko Museums of Cape Town. Her research specializations focus on comparative bone and teeth histology of extant and extinct vertebrates, with publications in high-ranking journals including Nature and Nature Communications. She has authored academic books such as The Microstructure of Dinosaur Bone (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005) and The Forerunners of Mammals (Indiana University Press, 2012), as well as popular science books including Famous Dinosaurs of Africa (2008) and Dinosaurs of Africa (2021). Her work has been recognized with awards including the NRF President Award in 1995, the South African Woman of the Year Award in 2005, the Distinguished Women Scientist Award in 2005, the NRF Transformation Award in 2012, and the TWAS Sub-Saharan Africa Prize for the Popularisation of Science in 2013. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, the University of Cape Town, and The World Academy of Sciences, and has served in leadership roles such as former President of the Association of South African Women in Science and Engineering and former Deputy President of the Academy of Science of South Africa.