Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., is currently the Sterling Professor of Immunobiology; Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology; of Epidemiology; and of Dermatology; and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at Yale University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (Canada), and completed her postdoctoral training from the National Institutes of Health (USA). Among her several professional achievements, Iwasaki was elected into the National Academy of Sciences (2018) and received the Inspiring Yale Award (2020), Charles W. Bohmfalk Teaching Award (2018), and the American Associations of Immunologists Thermo Fisher Meritorious Career Award (2018). Akiko Iwasaki’s research group studies mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at the mucosal surfaces. In particular, her laboratory is interested in how innate recognition of viral infections leads to the generation of adaptive immunity, and how adaptive immunity mediates protection against subsequent viral challenge. Dr. Iwasaki delivered her McClintock Lecture entitled “Immune responses to SARS-CoV-2” to the CSHL scientific community on April 7th, 2022. (https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/iwasaki/)