Time names Yale professor as one of the 100 most influential people of 2024

NEW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) - A Yale University professor was listed as one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2024.

Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., is a sterling professor of Immunobiology and molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, the university said.

Akiko Iwasaki is seen on Friday April 26 2013 at Yale University.(Kike Calvo/AP Images for HHMI)

She’s also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Anthony Fauci, the country’s former infectious disease leading expert, wrote in the Time article that Iwasaki’s “deep appreciation of the regulation of the human immune system has allowed her to lead the way in delineating the mechanisms of how it reacts to COVID-19, and the consequences of Long COVID.”

Fauci said her expertise in how the immune system first reacts to pathogens has provided key insights into Long COVID and provided pathways toward treatment strategies.

“Her accomplishments have earned her election to both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine,” he said. “Her leadership and her compassion, including championing women and people of color in science, has enormously benefited the scientific enterprise, and all of us.”

Yale said on its website that Iwasaki’s research focuses on the mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at the mucosal surfaces, and the development of mucosal vaccine strategies. It listed her as the co-Lead investigator of Yale’s COVID-19 Recovery Study, which aimed to determine the changes in the immune response of people with long COVID after vaccination.

Dr. Iwasaki also leads multiple other studies to interrogate the pathobiology of long COVID, both in patients, and through developing animal models of long COVID. Dr. Iwasaki was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2018, to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, to the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2021, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.