Kohji NISHIDA, MD
Japan

Kohji Nishida, M.D. Ph.D., is currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine and Director Premium Research Institute for Human Metaverse Medicine (PRIMe) in World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) at Osaka University.

Dr. Nishida has been engaged in clinical practice, education, and research in ophthalmology for more than 30 years since his graduation and has trained more than 150 residents. What is truly remarkable is his involvement from basic science to clinical applications. Of particular note is his discoveries of the development of the world’s first procedure for autologous cultivated oral mucosal epithelial cell sheet transplantation for intractable corneal diseases (New Engl J Med 2004) is recorded in history, and approved with marketed product (Ocural®) in Japan. More noteworthy is the development of human cornea organoid derived from human iPS cells (Nature 2016, Nat Protoc 2017) and has complete the world first-in-human clinical trial of iPS-derived corneal tissue. His research is further expanding to investigation on the mechanisms of morphogenesis of the human eye, by generation of human conjunctival organoid (Cell Rep 2021) and lacrimal gland organoid (Nature 2022), which are expected to significantly contribute to research in ophthalmology. Dr. Nishida has introduced many novel discoveries and treatment methods to the world, and is a top runner of ophthalmologist who has been making a long time contribution to the development of ophthalmology.