Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Yale professor honored for her contribution to science
Dr. Akiko Iwasaki was featured in 2024 Time 100 list and in Time 100 Health.
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A Yale professor is being honored for her scientific research with long COVID.
News 12's Angelica Toruno spoke with Dr. Akiko Iwasaki about her life and accomplishments.
Iwasaki is an immunology professor at Yale University, the founding director of the Yale Center for Infection and Immunity and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
Her office holds highly decorated achievements – something she said she never thought of when she began her career as an immunologist.
"This is…something unbelievable,” said Iwasaki. "Discovery is so amazing, you know, how the immune system works and how we can leverage that to help others...because it's designed to detect and fight off infection."
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, her knowledge in immunology played a big role in the advancements that were developed.
"At the time, nobody knew anything about this virus and we wanted to help as much as possible...such as elevated levels of antibodies against the spike protein,” said Iwasaki.
Her experience working with the Yale Center for Infection and Immunity proved to be crucial for finding out more about the short-term and long-term symptoms of COVID, as well as possible treatments.
"There's two big pillars in that center, one is to try to understand these post acute syndromes such as long COVID and the other is to try to develop vaccines,” said Iwasaki.
Last month, she was featured in the 2024 Time 100 list and most recently Time 100 Health.
"Unbelievable! It's such an honor. Others on that list are inspiring individuals who are changing the world in different ways,” said Iwasaki.
Iwasaki was born in Japan and as an Asian woman in science, she said she hopes achievements like these break down more barriers for women like her.
"We also have to keep working to make sure that we develop fertile ground for people of any skin color or race or background to pursue science,” said Iwasaki. “Because people have the capacity, but we're not providing the right platform for everyone to succeed."
In the Time 100 bio blub written by Dr. Anthony Fauci, he said: "[Iwasaki] is at the top of her game.”
"We still have work to do. We're working hard on that end, too,” said Iwasaki.
