About

Sofia Aziz is a Biomedical Egyptologist with a life-long passion for ancient Egypt. She has contributed to numerous publications, provided expert consultations for media, appeared in various podcasts and featured in several documentaries and TV Series including “Egypt’s Unexplained Files” and “Waking the Dead” with Bettany Hughes. 

Her primary research interests lie in Egyptian medicine and mummification methods, which cross into a multitude of other disciplines and topics. Her focus has been on understanding the health of the ancient Egyptians and the diseases they suffered from. Sofia is the recipient of the 2022 award for outstanding achievement in Biomedical Egyptology. Her research involves analysing radiological datasets, examining the palaeopathological records and medical papyri to further develop a better understanding of the people of ancient Egypt. This understanding is being built upon an interdisciplinary field which primarily uses minimally invasive, modern biomedical techniques, such as CT scanning, nucleic acid analysis, proteomics, lipidomics and histology.

Currently, her research explores neuroscience in ancient Egypt. Her book “The Human Brain in Ancient Egypt” provides a re-evaluation of what the ancient Egyptian physicians understood about the brain’s functions. Her research provides new insights on mummification methods and ancient Egyptian medicine.