September 10, 2025
AAI member Carla Rothlin, PhD, was elected vice-president of the International Union of Immunological Societies at the 2025 IUIS Congress in Vienna, Austria. A long-time advocate for the global immunology community, Dr. Rothlin will serve a three-year term, followed by another three years as IUIS President.
Dr. Rothlin was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and attended the University of Argentina for both undergraduate and doctoral degrees. As a post-doctoral researcher in Greg Lemke’s laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, she started working on TAM receptors, which became a central avenue of research in her career.
Recently, Dr. Rothlin has accepted a position as Director or the University of Minnesota’s Center for Immunology. She was previously professor of immunobiology and pharmacology at Yale University. With AAI, she has served on the Minority Affairs Committee.
While in the process of moving her lab, Dr. Rothlin generously took the time to answer some questions for News & Views.
For AAI members who may not be familiar with IUIS, what’s your elevator pitch about its importance and why they should know about it?
Rothlin: The way I like to think about this is that if AAI is your scientific community in the United States, as it is for me, then IUIS is the global house we all share, representing and advocating for nearly 30,000 immunologists under one roof to advance scientific excellence, equity, and collaboration in our discipline with the ultimate goal of improving health worldwide.
As IUIS vice-president (and subsequently president), what are your priorities for the organization and the field?
Rothlin: My priorities rest on three pillars that reflect our vision at IUIS of immunology without borders.
Education: Shaped by my own early experiences and by volunteering in IUIS, as well as leading the Global Immunocourses, I have seen firsthand the transformative impact of training opportunities. Building on this, I believe IUIS can and should help meet the clear global need for foundational courses in immunology by working closely with its Education Committee, National Societies and Regional Federations to expand educational capacity worldwide.
Connectivity: in this era of unprecedented communications, I want to strengthen platforms that link immunologists across continents, with our young and mid-career immunologists helping to lead the way.
Awareness: given the central role of immunology in human health, we must also raise the profile of our discipline and reach the general public worldwide. This will require coordination across existing IUIS committees to translate our science in ways that make it impactful and accessible to the public, highlighting the relevance of immunology in areas such as vaccines, immune health, and global health challenges
As the co-founder of Global Immunotalks, you have obviously been dedicated to international collaboration among immunologists for some time. What prompted this interest?
Rothlin: The idea for Global Immunotalks grew naturally out of experiences I share with my friend and colleague Dr. Elina Zúñiga (Professor at UCSD and co-founder of Global Immunotalks). Both of us began our scientific journeys in Argentina, where access to international seminars and interactions with global leaders in the field were limited. That early experience made us acutely aware of the value and at the same time the inequality of access to scientific exchange.
When the pandemic suddenly stopped in-person meetings, we saw not only the challenge but also an extraordinary opportunity to create a platform that would open the doors of immunology to anyone, anywhere. Global Immunotalks is built on a simple conviction that knowledge should circulate freely across borders. Since we started in 2020, we have had more than 200 talks and reached over 700,000 views on YouTube.
We have also been incredibly fortunate to assemble an international team of dear colleagues and Global Immunotalks organizers who have ensured that this initiative remains a truly global endeavor. In the same spirit, we recently launched the Global Immunocourses as a sister initiative aimed at offering foundational education to young scientists worldwide.
Other AAI members who have served as IUIS presidents include John Humphrey, Baruj Benacerraf, Henry Metzger, Tomio Tada, Philippa Marrack, Rolf Zinkernagel, and Peter Doherty.
