Shigeru KINOSHITA, MD
Japan

Dr. Shigeru Kinoshita, a clinician scientist, graduated from Osaka University Medical School in 1974 and has held the position of Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine since 1992. After relinquishing his role in March 2015, he assumed the new position of Professor and Chair of Frontier Medical Science and Technology for Ophthalmology at the same university in April 2015. During the early 1980s at Harvard Medical School, he pioneered the concept of centripetal movement of corneal epithelium, contributing to the development of the corneal stem cell theory. Over four decades, his research has focused on translating new therapies for severe corneal diseases. His team developed techniques for cultivated mucosal epithelial stem cell transplantation and cultured corneal endothelial cell transplantation to treat severe ocular surface disorders and corneal endothelial failure, respectively. They also validated the efficacy of Rho-associated protein kinase inhibitor for treating partial corneal endothelial dysfunction.

Dr. Kinoshita has received numerous awards, including the 1999 Alcon Research Institute Award, the 2008 Castroviejo Medal, the 2009 ARVO Gold Fellow, the Doyne Memorial Lecture in 2011 Charles D. Kelman Innovator Award, ASCRS 2015, the Friedenwal Award Lecturer at the ARVO 2016, The Coster Lecture at the Australian and New Zealand Cornea Society 2017, David Easty Lecture at the Bowman’s Club 2017, Memorial Lecture of Professor Yang Yen Fei at Taiwan Ophthalmological Society 2020, Harold Stein Innovator Lecture of Canadian Ophthalmological Society 2023, The Ophthalmologist's Hall of Fame 2023, and the Sir Norman Gregg Lecture at RANZCO in 2023. He served on the ARVO Cornea Trustee from 2006-2011, and Vice President in 2010-2011. Currently, he is the President of the Asia Cornea Society and the Japanese Society of Tissue Transplantation.