Katerina Akassoglou is a Professor of Neurology at UCSF, a Senior Investigator at Gladstone Institutes and Founder and Director of the Center for Neurovascular Brain Immunology. She has pioneered studies on vascular mechanisms of inflammation and tissue repair and discovered the molecular interface blood proteins utilize to interact with immune and nervous system cells, as a common thread driving autoimmune, neurodegenerative and vascular diseases. She developed a first-in-class fibrin-targeting immunotherapy currently in Phase 1b clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease and ophthalmic diseases. She has authored over 110 publications and is a named inventor on 11 issued and several pending patents. She is the scientific founder of Therini Bio and she was named by the San Francisco Business Times among the 2021 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business. She was awarded by the White House the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the Barancik Prize for Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis Research, the Vilcek Prize in Creative Promise honor, the Pharmacia-ASPET Award, and the Alzheimer’s Association’s Zenith Fellows Award. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, an elected Fellow of ASPET, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).