Wayne M. Yokoyama

Sam J. Levin and Audrey Loew Levin Chair for Research on Arthritis; Professor of Medicine and of Pathology and Immunology; Director, Medical Scientist Training Program; Associate Dean, Division of Physician-Scientists. Established the molecular basis for target recognition by natural killer (NK) cells which destroy tumor and virus-infected cells. Showed that NK cells express inhibitory receptors for histocompatibility molecules on targets and that these receptors dictate NK cell specificity, creating a paradigm shift on the nature of cell recognition.