Center Director

Profile

2002-Present

Principal Investigator, Vaccine Epidemiology Research Group, Health and Labor Sciences Research Grant, MHLW.

2013-2019

Member, Infectious Diseases Committee, Infectious Diseases Section, Health Science Council, MHLW.

2009-2013

Member, Immunization and Vaccines Committee, Infectious Diseases Section, Health Science Council, MHLW.

2001-2007

Member, Infectious Diseases Committee, Infectious Diseases Section, Health Science Council, MHLW.

2003-2004

Chairman, Subcommittee for Novel Influenza Preparedness, Infectious Diseases Section, Health Science Council, MHLW.

1997-2006

Member, Health and Physical Education Committee, Textbook Authorization Research Council, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

2008-2010

Member, H5N1 Influenza Vaccine Working Group, Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), WHO.

January 1998

Member, Survey Mission for Novel Influenza to China, WHO.

2018

Honorary Member of the Japanese Society for Vacccinology.

2013

“The Takahashi Prize” of the Japanese Society for Vacccinolog.

Biography

Professor Yoshio Hirota graduated from Kurume University (Fukuoka, Japan) with a MD and a PhD in 1973 and 1979 respectively. During his academic experience at Kurume University, The University of Tsukuba, and Kyushu University, he also maintained a position as Consultant on Tuberculosis Control in Nepal (1976-78), and served as Deputy Director of the Tuberculosis Division and subsequently three other divisions in the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) from 1981 to 1987. He was appointed Professor and Chairman of Osaka City University’s Department of Public Health (1999-2014), and is currently Director at Clinical Epidemiology Research Center, Medical Co. LTA.

Professor Hirota’s research interests deal with the epidemiology of infectious diseases and assessment of vaccine efficacy (effectiveness), with a particular focus on influenza. He confronted the anti-vaccination campaign for influenza that spread over Japan in the 1990s based on his own research (Nature 1996; 380(6569):18), and has made efforts to establish a sound foundation for immunization programs in Japan. Since 2002 he has been a leading principal investigator of a MHLW research group handling the study of vaccine epidemiology in Japan. Presently, this research group consists of 172 members, including epidemiologists, pediatricians, physicians, obstetricians, microbiologists, clinical pharmacologists, and public health specialists, who are conducting collaborative studies on vaccines for influenza, pertussis, rotavirus gastroenteritis, polio, and pneumonia. Professor Hirota has contributed to the Japanese government as a member of the Board of Immunization (2000-13) and the Board of Infectious Diseases (2013-present), Health Science Council, MHLW. He also served the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) Working Group for H5N1 influenza vaccines (2008-09) (http://www.who.int/immunization/sage/SAGE_H5N1_26Mayb.pdf). In 2013, the Japanese Society for Vaccinology awarded him “The Takahashi Prize”.