Akiko Iwasaki

Akiko Iwasaki, PhD is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at mucosal surfaces. Professor Iwasaki received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Toronto and completed her postdoctoral training with the National Institutes of Health before joining Yale’s faculty in 2000. She was elected to the NAS in 2018, to the NAM in 2019 and to the AAAS in 2021. Professor Iwasaki has been a leading scientific voice during the COVID-19 pandemic and is also well known for her X advocacy on women and underrepresented minorities in the science and medicine fields and has been named to the 2023 STATUS list of the ultimate list of leaders in life sciences.