Lisa Matisoo-Smith

Lisa Matisoo-Smith is Professor of Biological Anthropology in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London and was the Principal Investigator for the Pacific Islands with National Geographic’s Genographic Project.

Lisa’s main area of research is in understanding human history and human variation in general, but her primary area of interest is the biological evidence for human settlement of the Pacific. She applies both ancient and modern DNA techniques to reconstruct migration pathways and is increasingly interested in how human history and population origins may be related to some of the health issues facing Pacific populations today. Lisa works throughout the Pacific, but her most recent work has focused on New Zealand, Tokelau, Papua New Guinea and South America.