Graham Louw originally qualified as a veterinarian (BVSc) at the University of Pretoria, where he later taught the comparative anatomy of domestic animals while completing his doctoral degree (DVSc) in developmental neuro-embryology. He then returned to Cape Town to join the Faculty of Health Sciences as a senior lecturer and is now an Emeritus Professor. He has been teaching human anatomy, embryology and neurosciences for more than three decades. He holds a Distinguished Teacher’s Award from UCT and a Masters in Philosophy in Higher Education Studies through the Faculty of Humanities. He is the current Chair of the Animal Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences and has served two terms as President of the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA). He is one of the regional editors of the Clinical Anatomy, the journal of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists.

He has been a member of ASSA since 1980 and served as Honorary Treasurer in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, and again from 2014 to the present time. He was Chairperson of the local Organising Committee for the international meeting of the International Federation of the Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) in Cape Town in 2009. He is putting in a bid for ASSA to host the international meeting of the ISMS (International Symposium of Morphological Sciences) in August of 2022.

Regarding Medical Education at UCT, he was one of the key figures in revising the traditional medical training of students and launching the PBL curriculum in 2002. He served for many years as Co-Chair of the MBChB Programme Committee, mainly overseeing Years 1-3 of the programme. He has been working on the details of a Graduate Entry Programme at UCT which will hopefully be launched within a couple of years from now.

His research interests range from comparative anatomy to growth and development of school children to adult (tertiary) education, particularly regarding assessment practices. He has 40 publications in international journals and 8 in local journals. His cohort of postgraduate students reflect his interests in clinical and applied Anatomy, as well as in Medical Education.

The groups of undergraduate and postgraduate students whom he teaches include the Medical students in various years of study, students studying a BSc in Physiology, BScMed, Biokinetics students, Biomedical Engineers, Honours in Applied Anatomy / Biological Anthropology, and Sports Medicine.