Gillian Morriss-Kay is Emeritus Professor of Developmental Anatomy at the University of Oxford, where she taught embryology, histology and anatomy to medical students. Her research goal, using first rat, then mouse embryos, was to enhance understanding of normal and abnormal human development, especially of the craniofacial region and neural tube. This led to collaborative mouse-human work on the developmental genetics and morphogenesis of craniosynostosis. She was editor of the Journal of Anatomy for ten years.