川口 敦

I graduated from Osaka University School of Medicine and completed postgraduate training in pediatrics before undertaking clinical fellowships in pediatric critical care at Shizuoka Children’s Hospital in Japan and Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Canada. In 2018, I received a Ph.D. in epidemiology and biostatistics from the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. After serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa and subsequently as a professor in Japan, I joined St. Marianna University School of Medicine in 2022. I currently serve as Professor and Division Director of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and as Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

I have been involved in a broad range of research programs in epidemiology, pediatrics, and pediatric critical care. My principal research interests include respiratory monitoring, non-invasive respiratory support, respiratory physiology, and clinical decision-support systems in critical care. I have conducted basic, translational, and clinical studies on high-flow nasal cannula therapy, aerosol and nebulization therapy, neurally adjusted ventilatory assist, electrical activity of the diaphragm, electrical impedance tomography, airway pressure release ventilation, and non-invasive airway-clearance technologies in critically ill children.

I have also led the LongVentKids international research program, which investigates the prevalence, management, healthcare burden, and outcomes of prolonged mechanical ventilation in pediatric intensive care units. Through collaboration with investigators and institutions across multiple countries, this program aims to improve the care of children requiring prolonged or long-term ventilatory support and to support the development of international clinical guidance.

Another major area of my research is pediatric critical care transport and retrieval systems. During my doctoral studies, I conducted population-based research on pediatric critical care transport, remote triage, and the effects of transport systems on patient outcomes in Alberta. These studies contributed to improvements in provincial transport practice through active knowledge translation. I continue to work on projects involving data integration, remote clinical support, and seamless information sharing across emergency, transport, and intensive care settings in Japan and internationally.

In addition, I am developing clinical decision-support systems that integrate physiological waveforms, respiratory monitoring data, and routinely collected clinical information. These projects aim to support earlier recognition of deterioration, more individualized respiratory management, and safer clinical decision-making in critically ill children.

Alongside my own research, I supervise medical students, residents, fellows, and graduate students in Japan and internationally, particularly in clinical epidemiology, biostatistics, study design, and pediatric critical care research. I regard research supervision as an important educational opportunity for trainees to understand both the methodological foundations and the practical complexities of contemporary clinical research.

My work has been recognized through several awards, including the Garner King Award for Best Clinical or Quality Improvement Study from the Canadian Critical Care Forum in 2015, the Academic Research Award from the Japanese Society of Pediatrics in 2025, and the Annual Best Paper Award from the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine in 2026.