Wayne Yokoyama, MD, is the Sam J. Levin and Audrey Loew Levin Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pathology and Immunology, and a key figure in Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He currently directs the Medical Scientist Training Program, serves as Associate Director of the Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy, and holds the position of Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Previously, he was Chief of the Division of Rheumatology from 1995 to 2007, Director of the Center for Arthritis and Related Diseases, and Director of the Rheumatic Diseases Core Center. Yokoyama's research specializes in the basic mechanisms of innate immunity, including immune responses to viruses, receptors and ligands expressed by natural killer (NK) cells, and strategies employed by viruses for immune evasion. His clinical interests focus on rheumatology, particularly the etiology and pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. Internationally recognized for his studies on NK cells and their roles in defending against cancer and viruses, his work has amassed over 32,865 citations across 256 articles, 35 reviews, and 6 book chapters.

Yokoyama earned his MD from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, in 1978. He completed an internal medicine residency (1978-1981), clinical fellowship in rheumatology (1981-1982), and research fellowship in rheumatology (1982-1985) at the University of Iowa, followed by a research fellowship in immunology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (1985-1989). Recruited to Washington University in 1995 from Mount Sinai, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, he became a two-time HHMI Investigator. Notable awards include the Novartis Award for Basic Immunology in 2001, the Goldstein Award in 2015, and induction into the Academy of Educators. Key publications encompass 'Eomesodermin defines uterine NK cells crucial for pregnancy success in mice' (2025, Journal of Immunology), 'Shared pathway of WDFY4-dependent cross-presentation of immune complexes by cDC1 and cDC2' (2025, Journal of Experimental Medicine), 'Cis-regulatory evolution of the recently expanded Ly49 gene family' (2024, Nature Communications), 'NK Cells in Antiviral Defense' (2025, Encyclopedia of Immunobiology), and 'Innate Lymphoid Cells and Natural Killer Cells' (2024, Firestein & Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology). Yokoyama has also received Distinguished Service Teaching Awards and contributed to educational excellence through the MSTP.

Professional Email: yokoyama@wustl.edu