Koji Kawakami

After the graduation from Tsukuba University, Japan 1997, Dr. Kawakami underwent the residency training in head and neck surgery and otorhinolaryngology. During his PhD program, Dr. Kawakami moved to the Center of Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a postdoctoral fellow, later he was promoted to the IND reviewer of the clinical trials in the US. His speciality was the evaluation of cancer vaccine, gene therapy, and cellular therapy products. After his 6-years of experience with the FDA-CBER, Dr. Kawakami moved back to Japan as Associate Professor of the University of Tokyo hospital to perform the cutting-edge research of applied biotechnology to develop the new therapeutics and medical devices against cancer and inflammatory diseases. Since 2006, Dr. Kawakami moved to Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine as a Professor and Chair of Pharmacoepidemiology, where he is conducting various kinds of research programs focusung on clinical- and pharmaco-epidemiology utilizing various medical big database, cost effectiveness research on drugs, and development of novel anticancer drugs and devices. Dr. Kawakami also served as a Director of Science for Innovation Policy Unit, Center for Promotion of Interdisciplinary Education and Research of Kyoto University since 2012.