Maria Yazdanbakhsh heads the department of Parasitology at Leiden University Medical Center, which takes part in basic and clinical research and employs an interdisciplinary group of basic and clinical scientists who focus on understanding host-parasite interactions at different levels. The knowledge gained is being applied to contribute to 1) development of effective vaccines against parasitic diseases and 2) identification of parasite-derived immune modulatory molecules to control inflammatory diseases. She received the Spinoza prize in 2021.

Maria did her Master of Science degree in medical parasitology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD on Immunology that involved research on parasites at University of Amsterdam. After a post-doctoral fellowship period at Imperial College, London, she got a position in Leiden University. Through her conviction that equal partnership and co creation is the key to long term collaboration, she has set up strong and sustained joint projects with academic centers in a number of African countries and in Indonesia. The population studies are providing important insights in the immune system and dynamic alteration in disease patterns in an urbanizing world where prevalence of parasitic infections changes. She has trained many curious and brilliant young scientists from low to middle income countries who are now conducting pioneering work back at home.