Gurtina Besla is a theoretical astrophysicist whose research studies the dynamics of gravitationally interacting galaxies and the effects of their interactions on galaxy evolution, especially within the Local Group. Her work has also helped untangle the past history of the Local Group, suggesting that the Magellanic Clouds were latecomers to the group rather than forming with it, and that the Magellanic Stream resulted from interactions between the Magellanic Clouds rather than with the Milky Way. Educated in Canada and the United States, she works as a professor at the University of Arizona in its Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory.