- Sterling Professor, Department of Immunobiology; Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
- Professor, Department of Dermatology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
- Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
- Professor, Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
Dr. Akiko Iwasaki is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She received her PhD in Immunology from the University of Toronto, completed her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health, and joined Yale’s faculty in 2000. She serves as Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Yale.
Dr. Iwasaki’s research focuses on the mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at mucosal surfaces, a major site of entry for infectious agents. She has been a leading scientific voice during the COVID-19 pandemic and is at the forefront of several long COVID investigations, including the Mount Sinai-Yale Long COVID study, the Yale LISTEN study, and the Yale Paxlovid trial.
Her honors are extensive and include the Keio Medical Science Prize (2025), the Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research (2023), TIME 100 Most Influential People (2024), TIME 100 Health Most Influential People Affecting Global Health (2024), and Forbes 50 Over 50 Innovation (2024). She was elected 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, and was appointed President of the American Association of Immunologists in 2023. She was also named to the 2023 STATUS list of leaders in life sciences.
Dr. Iwasaki is widely recognized for her advocacy on behalf of women and underrepresented minorities in science and medicine.