Lisa Matisoo-Smith
Lisa Matisoo-Smith is a molecular anthropologist and Professor at the University of Otago. As at 2018, she is Head of the Department of Anatomy.
Born in Hawai‘i in 1963, Matisoo-Smith also lived in Japan and California, following her father's naval postings.
Matisso-Smith's research focuses on using DNA to map human migration, especially in the Pacific. She is a principal investigator on National Geographic's Genographic project. As part of that project, she is the lead researcher for From Africa to Aotearoa, which is looking specifically at human migration to New Zealand.
She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of New Zealand. In 2018, she was awarded the society's Mason Durie Medal for social science, recognising her research into Polynesian migration across the Pacific.
