Akassoglou, Katerina

Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
Professor, Department of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco (CA) | USA

Dr. Katerina Akassoglou is a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, and a Professor in the Department of Neurology at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Akassoglou has pioneered studies on the mechanisms that control the communication between the brain, immune and vascular systems – and in particular the role of the blood clotting factor fibrinogen as a common thread in a wide range of neurologic diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Akassoglou’s research on transcriptional profiling of oxidative stress discovered neurotoxic CNS innate immune cell populations and therapeutic targets in neuroinflammation. Dr. Akassoglou developed cutting-edge imaging tools to study the neurovascular interface and discovered a novel fibrin-targeting immunotherapy and small molecule compounds to protect the brain from pathogenic neuroinflammation. Her team has had a long-standing funding from the NIH, the National MS Society, the American Heart Association, Race to Erase MS, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and the Department of Defense. Dr. Akassoglou has published over 100 papers and book chapters, has led several national and international collaborations with academia and pharma, is the scientific founder of the university spin-out Therini Bio, a named inventor on ten issued and several pending patents, and she is active in many scientific societies, editorial boards, and funding agencies. She was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by the White House, the John J. Abel Award, the Dana Foundation for Brain and Immunoimaging Award, the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise honor, The Marilyn Hilton Award for Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis Research, the NIH R35 Research Program and EUREKA Awards, and the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research. Dr. Akassoglou is a Fellow of the American Neurological Association (ANA) and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). She was named by the San Francisco Business Times among the 2021 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business.