Mariagrazia Pizza, Professor of Microbiology at Imperial College London, is the first woman to have discovered and then licensed two life-saving vaccines through groundbreaking scientific innovation. She has transitioned from a leading career in the pharmaceutical industry to a full-time academic role at Imperial where she advances research on vaccines for antimicrobial resistance. She has led large collaborative projects between academia and industry to deliver transformative vaccines and undertake fundamental research on the biology of vaccine antigens and dissecting immune responses. Her delivery of vaccines that have saved thousands of lives, and leadership in antimicrobial resistance, underscores her societal impact in tackling the major global health challenges of our time.