en


Director


MD, PhD

Dr. Taro Shirakawa

Profile


Dr.Taro Shirakawa got MD at Kyoto University Medical School in 1983, and PhD in Medicine at Osaka University in 1994. After he worked as chest physician, he recognized how preventive medicine is important, and decided to move to public health field, and got position at Osaka University Medical School. Since he was interested in asthma, he tried to establish preventive strategy for allergic disorders. For this reason, he applied to join the research group at University of Oxford directed by Drs. Julian Hopkin and WOCM Cookson who lead the genetics of asthma in the world. Since then, he stayed in UK for nearly 10 years at University of Oxford and Wales, got an international fame on genetics of asthma after he identified important genes responsible for the development of it. In 2000, he was invited to become a Prof. at his mother university, and in 2001, he was assigned Prof. at the National Human Genome Centre at RIKEN. Furthermore, he started clinical groups for cancer patients at the terminal stage, and established remarkable achievement in this field. For these achievements, he got several outstanding awards both in and out of Japan.


History of Education

1983 March Graduated from Kyoto University Medical School
1994 June DMSc at Osaka University School of Medicine

History of Occupation


 06/1983-09/1984 Resident at Kyoto University Hospital for Chest 　　　　

Disease Institute, 1st Department of Medicine
09/1984-02/1987 Junior fellowship at Takatsuki Red Cross Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases
02/1987 -03/1991 Research Assistant at the Department of Hygiene,
Osaka University School of Medicine
03/1991 -06/1995 Visiting Research Fellow at Nuffield Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital,
University of Oxford
 06/1995-08/1995 Assistant Professor at the Department of Hygiene,
Osaka University School of Medicine
08/1995 -01/1999 Senior Research Doctor at Osler Chest Unit,
Churchill Hospital University of Oxford
01/1999 -04/2000 Senior Research Lecturer, Department of Experimental Medicine, Medical School,

University of Wales Swansea
 04/2000-04/2006 Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Human
Behaviour, Kyoto University

Graduate School of Public Health

Visiting Professor, Nanjing Medical University

Visiting Professor, University of Wales Swansea

04/2001-03/2004 Leader at RIKEN, SNP Research Center, National

Human Genome Centre

04/2006-09/2007 President and CEO, Gene Science

09/2007-10/2008 President of Taro Shirakawa Clinic

10/2008 -3/2012 President of Universal Clinic, Isahaya

4/2012 -present Chairman of Clinic group, TCMC (Tokyo Central

Medical Clinic), Kaneshiro-kai, Tokyo

President of Kisaragi Souken Clinic, Fukuoka


Awards:

1997:Astra Asthma Award by Japanese Allergology Society

2002:Daiwa Adrian Prizes(best Anglo-Japanese collaboration every 3 years)

2002:Best 500 Scientific Professors in the world by BWWS

2003:Erwin von Balz Prize(best medical research award in Japan )


Editorial activity:

Health: vice editor

· Original papers in English:

117 including 2 in Nature Genetics, 1 in Science, 6 in Lancet


Review articles in English: 22

Main Achievements:

  1. Shirakawa T, Enomoto T, Shimazu S, Hopkin JM: The inverse association between tuberculin responses and atopic disorder. Science 1997;275:77-79
  2. Mao X-Q, Shirakawa T, Yoshikawa T, Yoshikawa Y, Sasaki S, Enomoto T, Kawai M, T Hashimoto, J Furuyama, Hopkin JM, Morimoto K: Association between genetic variants mast-cell chymase and atopic eczema. Lancet 1996;348:581-583
  3. Shirakawa T, Mao X-Q, Sasaki S, Kawai M, Hopkin JM, Morimoto K: Association between atopy and variants of FceRIb in a Japanese population. Lancet 1996;347:394-395
  4. Mitsuyasu H, Izuhara K, Mao X-Q, Gao P-S, Arinobu Y, Dake Y, Enomoto T, Kawai M, Sasaki S, Hamasaki N, Shirakawa T, Hopkin JM: Ile50Val variant of Interleukin-4 receptor(IL-4R) a chain upregulates IgE synthesis by B-lymphocytes and predicts childhood asthma. Nature Genet. 1998;19:119-120
  5. Mitsuyasu H, Yanagihara Y, Mao X-Q, Gao P-S, Arinobu Y, Ihara K, Takabayashi A, Hara T, Enomoto T, Sasaki S, Kawai M, Hamasaki N, Shirakawa T, Hopkin JM, Izuhara K: Dominant effect of Ile50Val variant of the human interleukin-4 receptor a chain in IgE synthesis.(Cutting Edge) J. Immunol. 1999; 162:1227-1231
  6. Shirakawa T, Deichmann K, Izuhara K, Mao X-Q, Gao P-S, Chaker AN, Hopkin JM: Mutations on IL-4 and IL-13 signalling genes. Immunol. Today 2000;21:60-65


    Vice Director


    MD, PhD(Osaka University)

    Dr. Aki Shirakawa (Mao Xiaoquan)