Lalita Ramakrishnan is Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. She is an exemplary clinician scientist whose work on mycobacteria reaches from fundamental biology to clinically relevant translation. Professor Ramakrishnan has developed a zebrafish model for the study of mycobacterial pathogenesis, which has provided a stream of novel insights into the behaviour of mycobacteria and of the immune response against them. These have direct implications for human tuberculosis and, more recently, leprosy. Professor Ramakrishnan’s sustained commitment to high quality scientific enquiry has benefitted her field, her patients and her colleagues alike.