Rate My Professor Hiromi Sakai

Hiromi Sakai is Professor of Chemistry at Nara Medical University. He earned a B.S. in Applied Chemistry from Waseda University in 1989, an M.S. in Polymer Chemistry from Waseda University in 1991, a Ph.D. (D.Eng.) in Polymer Chemistry from Waseda University in 1994, and a Ph.D. (D.Med.Sci.) from the School of Medicine at Keio University in 2006. His career includes positions as Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science from 1994 to 1996, Lecturer and Associate Professor at Waseda University from 1998 to 2010, Visiting Scholar at the University of California San Diego in 1996–1998 and 2001, Visiting Lecturer at Tokyo Metropolitan University in 2004–2005, and various roles at Keio University and Waseda University organizations through 2013. Since 2013 he has served as Professor of Chemistry at Nara Medical University and holds additional appointments as Visiting Principal Investigator at the Waseda Bioscience Research Institute in Singapore and Visiting Professor at Waseda University.

Sakai’s research centers on artificial oxygen carriers, hemoglobin vesicles, molecular assembly, liposomes, redox and ligand binding of hemoglobin, tissue oxygenation, tissue engineering, microvascular physiology, and biorheology. He has authored 157 original peer-reviewed articles and 88 review papers or book chapters, along with 13 Japanese patents and 3 U.S. patents. Key honors include the Mizuno Award from Waseda University in 1994, the JSAO-Yoshimi Grant Award from the Japanese Society for Artificial Organs in 2003, the Young Investigator Award from the International Liposome Society in 2006, and the Award for Outstanding Research on Membrane Technology from the Mukai Science and Technology Foundation in 2008. He serves in leadership roles in academic societies including as president, editor, and board member of the Japanese Society of Blood Substitutes.