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 neurovascular 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 neurologic diseases, including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. She developed a first-in-class fibrin-targeting immunotherapy for the treatment of neurological diseases currently in Phase 1b clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease and ophthalmic diseases. 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, and the Pharmacia-ASPET Award. 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 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). Dr. Akassoglou started her laboratory as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego where she was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. She earned a BSc degree in biology and her PhD at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute and the University of Athens, Greece with training at the University of Vienna, Austria before performing her postdoctoral work at the Rockefeller University and New York University.