Dr. Akiko Iwasaki stands as a preeminent leader in the field of immunology with a distinguished career spanning over two decades at Yale University. She currently holds the prestigious Sterling Professorship in Immunobiology, the highest academic honor bestowed by Yale, along with professorships in Dermatology, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, and Epidemiology. After earning her PhD in Immunology from the University of Toronto in 1998, she completed postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health under renowned mucosal immunologist Brian Lee Kelsall. Dr. Iwasaki joined the Yale faculty in 2000 and has since established herself as a visionary researcher, founding and directing the Yale Center for Infection and Immunity while simultaneously serving as an Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2014.
Dr. Iwasaki's groundbreaking research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of immune defense mechanisms at mucosal surfaces, which represent the primary entry points for most pathogens. Her laboratory pioneered the demonstration of tissue-specific properties of dendritic cells, discovered novel pathways for triggering immune responses to viruses, and developed the first mammalian model of vaginal Zika infection that transformed the field's approach to studying this virus. Perhaps her most influential contribution is the innovative "prime and pull" vaccine strategy, which has been implemented in clinical trials for therapeutic vaccines targeting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia at Yale New Haven Hospital. Additionally, her recent work creating the ERVMap tool for analyzing endogenous retrovirus expression has provided new insights into host immunity and physiology, while her research on SARS-CoV-2 and long COVID has significantly shaped public understanding and clinical approaches to the pandemic.
As a respected leader in the scientific community, Dr. Iwasaki served as President of the American Association of Immunologists from 2023 to 2024, building upon her previous service as a Council member from 2018 to 2025. She has received numerous prestigious honors including election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2018, the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021, culminating in the 2023 Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research. Beyond her research achievements, she is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists, as evidenced by Yale's Charles W. Bohmfalk Teaching Award in 2018 and the Inspiring Yale Award in 2017. Currently, Dr. Iwasaki continues to push the boundaries of immunological research with a focus on understanding the role of endogenous retroviruses and transposable elements in host immunity, with the ultimate goal of developing innovative therapeutics and vaccines to prevent viral transmission and combat post-viral conditions.
