Makoto Ishii: Valuing Human Connections

2023/01/23

I graduated from Keio University School of Medicine in 1996. Excluding six years of service at affiliated hospitals and three years of study in the United States, I worked at Keio University Hospital for over 17 years before assuming my current position in June 2022. Although I am still in the middle of my career as a clinician, I strive to value human connections in every situation.

In terms of research, unlike in the past, it has become difficult to produce high-quality results through small-group research due to the advancement of information technology. Comprehensive analysis of big data is essential for achieving significant results. Therefore, it is important to conduct joint research with various experts to advance research projects. I believe that the key to advancing research together is to carry it out based on trust built by valuing human connections. During my time at Keio University, I worked as a pulmonologist, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, I served as a sub-leader of the COVID-19 medical team at Keio University Hospital.

The faculty at Keio University were full of determination to promote research and generate new insights even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by the Dean of the School of Medicine, the "Donner Project" was launched to clarify the pathology of COVID-19. I was involved in the research as the clinical operations manager. Thanks to close collaboration built on trust within the university, procedures for research consent and specimen collection were quickly established, leading to the publication of various results. Additionally, I served as the operational lead for the representative institution in the Coronavirus Control Task Force, which was established by Dean Takanori Kanai and later led by Professor Koichi Fukunaga of the Department of Respiratory Medicine.

In addition to Keio University, experts from various fields such as infectious diseases, molecular genetics, and genomic medical sciences from Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Osaka University collaborated, forming a research group with over 100 participating institutions. Our paper, which identified the disease-susceptibility gene DOCK2 and demonstrated its role in severity, was accepted by the journal Nature last year, and research is still ongoing. I truly feel that this was made possible by mutual trust. I learned that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to work together to clarify academic questions and share findings with the world.

Moving forward, I hope to continue my research while "valuing human connections" and never forgetting to be grateful.