Leila Akkari

Leila Akkari

Leila Akkari is a tenured Group Leader in the Tumor Biology and Immunology Department at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Senior Member of the Oncode Institute, and Full Professor at Leiden University. She is a cancer immunologist whose research dissects how macrophage origin, metabolic wiring, and plasticity shape tumor-microenvironment interactions and therapeutic resistance in primary brain and liver cancers. Akkari’s work on macrophages in cancer has been supported by KWF (2017-YIG, 2019, 2021, 2024), NWO Vidi (2019), NWO-XL (2022) and ERC synergy (2024) grants, and is recognized by her integration to the EMBO Young Investigator Program (2021), Board Member of the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR) and by the Ammodo Award 2025 for fundamental research. Dr. Akkari leads an interdisciplinary research team composed of 17 people, spanning from 8 PhD students, 6 post docs and 3 technicians and is deeply committed to mentorship and inclusive scientific culture. She published several pioneering papers on her research, is invited as plenary speaker on several conferences is involved in science communication advocating for equitable training environments and support of early-career researchers, particularly women. Through leadership roles, conference organization, and patient engagement programs within Oncode and NKI, she thrives to foster diversity in scientific representation in STEM.