Leila Akkari, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and junior group leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam and a junior member of the Oncode Institute, a virtual group of cancer research laboratories based in the Netherlands.

Originally from North Africa and the Middle East, she has worked and lived in several countries around the world, driven by her passion for science. She is interested in studying the complex interactions between cancer cells and healthy cells in tumours. Her research focuses on the role of immune system cells in neoplastic growth, therapy resistance and recurrence in malignant brain and liver tumours, with the aim of manipulating these cells to develop personalised anti-cancer treatments.

In 2020, she was selected by EMBO for the Young Investigator Program, the programme to support young European researchers.