Michael Pillay (BSc, UHDE, BEd, BA, BSc [Hons] MS, and PhD) is a distinguished professor at the University of South Africa (UNISA). He completed a BSc degree, a university higher diploma in education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), a BEd and a BA from UNISA, a BSc (Hons) at UKZN, an MS (agronomy) at Louisiana State University, and a PhD at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Prof. Pillay has authored or coauthored 105 articles and 8 book chapters and has edited 2 books on banana breeding/genetics. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Crop Improvement. Prof. Pillay's research interests are biotechnology, breeding, molecular genetics, genetics, plant sciences, plant systematics, cytogenetics, tissue culture, cell culture/tissue engineering, and germplasm conservation of crop plants. Prof. Pillay started his career as an educator (1974–1984) and obtained a scholarship to the USA. He did three postdoctoral fellowships in the US. He joined the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria as a cytogeneticist/molecular geneticist of bananas. He was transferred to Uganda as a banana breeder/molecular biologist. He joined the Vaal University of Technology in 2007, moved to UNISA as a professor in 2009, and rejoined the Vaal University of Technology in 2010. He has supervised/cosupervised over 30 master's and doctoral students. He worked as a freelance editor for Cactus Communications(Oct 21–Oct 23). He rejoined UNISA in June 2023.