Shinya Yamanaka

Dr. Shinya Yamanaka is the Director Emeritus of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, a Senior Investigator and the L.K. Whittier Foundation Investigator in Stem Cell Biology at the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease (GICD). He is also the Representative Director of the CiRA Foundation, a Public Interest Incorporated Foundation. He earned an M.D. from Kobe University in 1987 and a Ph.D. from Osaka City University in 1993. From 1987 to 1989, he was a resident at the National Osaka Hospital. From 1993 to 1996, he was a postdoctoral fellow at GICD. In 1996, He became an Assistant Professor at Osaka City University Medical School. In 1999, he was appointed Associate Professor at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, where he was promoted to full professorship in 2003. He assumed his current position as a Professor at Kyoto University in 2004 and was appointed Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes in 2007. He has directed CiRA to its establishment in 2008. He is most recognized for his original research on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Since his breakthrough finding, he has been honored with many prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Dr. John Gurdon in 2012. Human iPS cells and their derivatives are revolutionizing modern medicine, especially for disease modeling, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine. His vision is to overcome human diseases by delivering innovative iPS cell-based therapeutic options to the world.