ADVISORS FOR HEALTHCARE & LIFE SCIENCES

Dr. Yasuhiro (Yas) Hashimoto is the founder and President of Silicon Valley Tech, Inc., engages in investing and accelerating the U.S. & Japanese startups since 2014. He is also a Medical Advisor for Mavericks (Investment Boutique Firm in Palo Alto) and a Vice Chairman of Japan Academic Society for Genomic Pharmacology.
Yas was former Founder, President and CEO of MediBIC Group, a leading public biotechnology company in Japan specializing in biomarker discovery and pharmacogenomics. He also established Asia Private Equity Capital, MediBIC’s Investment division, which specialized in Asian biotech companies. Previously, Yas was Founder and CEO of Genetic Lab in Japan (subsequently acquired by Transgenic Inc.) and a Department Head at Nippon Glaxo. Yas has also been a board member of Strand Genomics in India and prior to joining Glaxo, an executive at Syntex. Earlier in his career, Yas was an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, among other faculty appointments. Yas has deep scientific expertise in inflammation and immunology, molecular analysis, diagnostics, regenerative medicine, stem cells, and oncology. He has a deep network of senior relationships in big pharma, biotechs, other R&D based companies, VCs, and financial firms in Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and India. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships. Yas received his medical degree at Osaka University Medical School.

After gaining experience at US-based Johnson & Johnson, Onozaki became a Rotary Foundation scholar in 2004 and moved to the US to pursue graduate education. After returning to Japan in 2006, he worked for Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), and joined the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) in 2007. As the director of the Health Policy Unit and the Vice President of HGPI, Onozaki drafted policy recommendations including party manifest and conducted many policy projects. This career led him to the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, where he was the Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Legal. In 2014, he returned to HGPI where he currently serves as the President. His past experiences include publishing many articles and several appearances on media and the national television program. He serves as Health Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2015-), Secretary General for the Health Care 2035 Minister’s Advisory Panel, and other various positions. He holds a BA in Law from Hosei University and MS in Health Policy and Management from Harvard University.

Dr. Toshio Miyata, originally from Tokyo, received his BA in mechanical engineering from Waseda University in 1999 and his MD from Osaka University Medical School in 2003. After practicing as a cardiac surgeon working in surgery, clinical trials and research, and regenerative medicine at Osaka University, Dr. Miyata joined the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), the agency that addresses issues that arise in the field. As a technical officer of the MHLW, Dr. Miyata worked on a multitude of policy matters, including comprehensive reform of the tax and social security systems, clinical research funding, the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law Reform Act, the Regenerative Medicine Law, reform related to advanced medicine, and the first policies related to specialized nursing. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, Dr. Miyata was one of the first officers sent to Fukushima, where he supported local recovery work. His efforts in this area continued even after the initial phases of disaster recovery to include projects such as fundraising for medical devices in the Tohoku region. After transitioning out of the MHLW in August 2013, Dr. Miyata entered Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) in September 2013. Narrowing the gap between policy and practice, Dr. Miyata focuses primarily on policy advocacy and planning. In November 2013, he was appointed special adviser to the Cabinet Office on Health and Medical Strategy Promotion. Currently, Dr. Miyata is a visiting professor at Kyoto University's Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation, Osaka University's Office for University-Industry Collaboration and Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine's United Centers for Advanced Research and Translational Medicine. His other titles include Advisor to Kanagawa Prefecture, Advisor to Kawasaki City's Center for International Strategy, Advisor to Yokohama City University, Director of Strategic Policy Planning at the National Cancer Center, Advisor to Mie University's Clinical Research Support Center, Expert Committee Member of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, Special Advisor to the Translational Research Informatics Center and Committee Member of Nippon Kenko Kaigi (unofficially in English "Japan Health Consortium"). Dr. Miyata contributes to educating future leaders by providing lectures on topics such as social security, innovation, leadership and regulatory science at institutions including The University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, Waseda University, Keio University, University of Yamanashi and Aoyama Shachu. Dr. Miyata continues to practice surgery as well as outpatient medicine. Dr. Miyata's speaking engagements in Japan and abroad focus on topics including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, community care systems, regulatory reform, clinical research, regenerative medicine, and public-private-academic partnerships. Recent venues include The Japanese Association of Medical Sciences, the US Institute of Medicine, and Harvard University. He has appeared on BS Television's Shinsou Nyusu (“In Depth News”) and Primu Nyusu(“Prime News”).

Dr. Sakata graduated from Graduate School of Science, Osaka University in 1979. He joined one of the major Japanese pharmaceutical companies and mainly engaged in research and development of biological medicines. And then after his research on genome-based drug discovery, he is currently in charge of open innovation activities.
He was commended by Osaka governor the Osaka Prefectural Pharmaceutical-related Contributor Award (pharmaceutical research) in 2014. His area of expertise is molecular biology and drug-discovery innovation, and he has been serving and contributing Japanese innovative drug-discovery technologies.

【Faculty titles】As of March 2016

・Osaka University, Graduate School of Engineering Science (Visiting Professor)

・Osaka University, Cybermedia Center (Visiting Professor)

・Tokushima University, Department for the Promotion of Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration
(Visiting Professor)

【Job Title】As of March 2016

・NPO Kinki-Bio-Industry Development Organization (Vice-Chief Director)

・The Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Life Science Promotion Committee (Vice Chairman of a Committee)

・Kyoto University,　Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences（iCeMS）(Industry Advisory Board Member)

・Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) JST-CRDS,　Center for Research and Development Strategy, Life Science and Clinical Research Unit (Visiting Fellow)