In 2007, Professor Göran K. Hansson won the European Atherosclerosis Society Anitschkow Prize, which is intended to recognize outstanding research in the field of atherosclerosis and associated metabolic disturbances. This paper, which provides an overview of Pr. Hansson’s scientific contributions, discusses the following: immune infiltration in plaques, cytokine biology in the vasculature, immunosuppressants as inhibitors of restenosis, inflammatory markers confirming that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease, the variety of athero-antigen T helper cells active in the arteries of mouse and human models, vaccination against atherosclerosis, and immunomodulation as an alternative therapeutic strategy.