As the pandemic started, you know, I got emails and phone calls and questions from people

about very basic aspects of the immune system.

And so I thought, you know, perhaps it's better for me to actively engage the public

about the immune system and do a sort of immunology 101.

That's Professor Akiko Iwasaki.

And if you've been on Twitter during the pandemic, you've probably come across her tweets.

She's an immunologist at Yale who is a master huge social media following for her posts

about the latest COVID-19 research.

And I totally get why.

She's the kind of person who will tweet about a new study that she is doing on COVID long

haulers.

Those are the people who have really long lingering symptoms after getting infected with

COVID.

And then a few minutes later, she'll respond to someone who wants to know how their vaccine

could be affected by a shark attack, specifically, whether you'd still have immunity if a shark

bit off the arm where you got your COVID-19 shot.

That was a real question.

And Professor Iwasaki had an answer.

She has an answer to seemingly every question about immunology and she takes the time to

engage with people and break down the complicated science.

The other thing about Professor Iwasaki as I learned is that she's not afraid to speak

up about power imbalances in the workplace.

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