Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, the Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will receive the 2023 Howard Taylor Ricketts Prize from the Biological Sciences Division. The title of her lecture will be “Immune responses to SARS-CoV-2” and it will be held on Tuesday, May 30th at 4pm in the Biological Sciences Learning Center, Room 109. The lecture will be held in person; details regarding hybrid options will be shared closer to the date.
Dr. Iwasaki’s research focuses on the mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at the mucosal surfaces, and the development of mucosal vaccine strategies. She has been at the forefront of research during the COVID-19 pandemic, with regards to her research program, science communication, and public service. She is the co-Lead Investigator of the Yale COVID-19 Recovery Study and the Yale LISTEN study, aimed at understanding the pathophysiology of long COVID. Dr. Iwasaki was named one of the 50 top experts to trust during the pandemic by Elemental, a publication for science-backed health coverage, and she is well known for her advocacy for women and underrepresented minorities in science and medicine.
The Howard Taylor Ricketts Prize is given annually in recognition of extraordinary achievement in any area of biomedical and biological sciences. The lecture series is named after Dr. Howard Taylor Ricketts, who was a pathologist at UChicago from 1902 to 1910. He was the first person to describe the tick-borne pathogen that causes Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, as well as the related organism that causes typhus fever. While researching typhus in Mexico City, he contracted the disease and died at the age of 38. As a memorial to her husband, Myra Tubbs Ricketts established an endowed fund at the University in 1912 to support the Prize.
In addition to the upcoming 2023 lecture, nominations are now being accepted for the 2024 Howard Taylor Ricketts Prize. Awardees will receive a cash award of $50,000, a medal, and will be invited to campus for the named lecture in May of 2024. We would like to encourage you to nominate a prominent scientist in any area of biomedical and biological sciences who has made transformative contributions to their field, independent of career stage, by filling out the form here. A faculty committee in the BSD selects the recipient of this prize annually and assists us with stewarding this gift and lectureship.
For consideration for the 2024 Ricketts Prize, nominations should be sent prior to April 3rd, 2023. To learn more about the prize and see a list of past prize winners, please visit the lecture series page.
