Hiroshi Watanabe,
MD, PhD

Professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics,
Director of the Clinical Research Center, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine.

After graduation from Hokkaido University and getting his medical license, Hiroshi Watanabe started working as a cardiologist in Hamamatsu University Hospital in 1983. He received his PhD in 1988. From 1989-1991 he studied abroad as a research fellow under the supervision of Prof. H. M. Piper in Dusseldorf University, Germany. Due to his growing interest in drug development and research, he transferred to the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics in Hamamatsu University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in 1998.

He is now Professor of that department as well as the Director of the Clinical Research Center at Hamamatsu University School of Medicine. He has devoted considerable time to advancing the promotion of research and drug development in Japan, taking leadership roles such as the Program Chairperson of the Annual Scientific Meeting of Japanese Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (JSCPT) in 2011 as well as the Meeting President of JSCPT-KSCPT-ASCPT Joint Conference in the same year. He has served as a member of the Japan Regional Advisory Council of DIA from 2011-2015 and helped establish the first joint symposium with DIA in the annual scientific meeting of JSCPT. He also took a role as the Program Chairperson of “the 11th Annual Meeting DIA Japan 2014”.

He is currently the President of JSCPT, a council member of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and a Program Officer of Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), and serves on several national committees with purposes closely aligned with the aim of improving health and healthcare by encouraging the advancement of clinical trials in Japan. He also sits on the Editorial Boards for Cardiovascular Research and the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and was the Chief Editor of Translation of “Principles of Pharmacology 3rd Edition” (2015). His research interests focus on clinical pharmacology of cardiovascular drugs, endothelial cell signaling, pulmonary hypertension, and vascular biology.