Immunologist Akiko Iwasaki: ‘We are not done with Covid, not even close’

The Yale professor and long Covid expert on why the virus is causing ongoing illness for so many, and the challenges she faces as a woman of colour in science

According to the most recent estimates, more than 65 million people worldwide may be living with some form of long Covid, a startling number that will only continue to increase, given the lack of available treatment options.

One of the scientists leading the race to try to unravel the complexities of long Covid is Akiko Iwasaki, an immunology professor at Yale School of Medicine. Iwasaki has been at the forefront of numerous research breakthroughs throughout the course of the pandemic, from understanding why men were more vulnerable to the Sars-CoV-2 virus, the autoimmunity that made some people unexpectedly susceptible, and why a small minority have experienced heart inflammation in response to the Covid-19 vaccines. Most recently, Iwasaki has been awarded the prestigious Else Kroner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research, worth 2.5m (2.2m), in part due to her ongoing work on long Covid.