Rate My Professor Maysa Furlan

Maysa Furlan is a professor titular at the Instituto de Química of Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) in Araraquara. She earned a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Unesp in 1982, a master's degree in Organic Chemistry from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) in 1985, and a doctorate in Organic Chemistry from USP in 1990. She completed postdoctoral studies at Washington State University from 1992 to 1993. Furlan joined the faculty at Unesp in 1987 and obtained her livre-docência in Organic Chemistry from the Instituto de Química at Unesp in 2000.

Her research focuses on organic chemistry and natural products chemistry, including structural, biological, and biosynthetic aspects, as well as contributions to synthetic biology and biotechnology. She has authored more than 560 publications with over 8,000 citations and an h-index of 53. Furlan is a full member of the Academia Brasileira de Ciências since 2018 and the Academia de Ciências do Estado de São Paulo since 2023. She received the Medalha Simão Mathias from the Sociedade Brasileira de Química in 2021. In administrative roles at Unesp, she has served as coordinator of the Graduate Program in Chemistry (2000–2004), director of the Instituto de Química de Araraquara (2004–2008), advisor to the Pro-Rectory of Research (2008–2016), coordinator of the Institutional Scientific Initiation Program (2012–2016), interim Pro-Rector of Research and Undergraduate Studies (2016), vice-rector (2021–2024), and rector (2025–2029), becoming the first woman to hold the position of rector at the university. She has also contributed to national committees, including those of CAPES and FAPESP, and served as associate editor of the Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society.