Rate My Professor Hiroaki Niitsu

Hiroaki Niitsu, M.D., Ph.D., serves as Specially Appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical and Molecular Genetics at Hiroshima University Hospital. He earned his M.D. from Hiroshima University in 2006 and his Ph.D. in Medicine from the same institution in 2016. His career includes initial clinical training at Hiroshima University Hospital from 2006 to 2008, followed by entry into the Department of Gastroenterological and Transplant Surgery in 2008. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the Division of Gastroenterology from 2017 to 2022. Subsequent appointments include roles as Principal Investigator at Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute from 2022 to 2024, Medical Staff at Hiroshima University Hospital from 2024 to 2025, and his current positions as Specially Appointed Lecturer and Director of the Digital Image Analysis Division in the Preclinical Molecular Information Diagnostics Room since 2025.

Niitsu’s research centers on cancer genomics, molecular diagnostics, and colorectal cancer mechanisms, including GTP metabolism, KRAS inhibitors, tumor microenvironment, and real-world analysis of comprehensive genomic profiling tests. He has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, such as studies on prioritizing cancer-causing mutations in real-world cancer genomics data, colon-restricted PTEN haploinsufficiency models, gastrointestinal involvement in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and factors influencing accuracy in cancer genome profiling tests. He holds committee roles including membership in the Japanese Society of Genetic Medicine’s Somatic Gene Testing Committee and the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association’s Clinical Laboratory System Management Promotion Committee. Recent honors include Outstanding Presentation Awards from the Korean Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the East Asia Union of Human Genetics Society in 2024, and an Excellent Presentation Award at the 32nd Japanese Society of Hereditary Tumors Academic Meeting in 2026.