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Hirotake Komatsu,

Assistant Research Professor, Department of Translational Research & Cellular Therapeutics

Biography photo
Location
Duarte Comprehensive Cancer Center
1500 East Duarte Road
Duarte, CA 91010
Education
Medical school:
Degrees

  • 2019-present, Assistant Research Professor, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2017-2019, Staff Scientist, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2014-2017, Postdoctoral Fellow, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2013-2014, Surgeon in Chief, Department of Surgery, Kamma Memorial Hospital, Nasu-Shiobara, Japan

  • 2011-2014, Researcher (Ph.D. student), Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo, Japan

Residency

  • 2005-2009, Chief Resident, Department of Surgery, Sendai City Medical Center, Sendai, Japan

  • 2004-2005, Senior Resident, Department of Surgery, Sendai City Medical Center, Sendai, Japan

  • 2003-2004, Residency, Department of Surgery, Bokutoh Metropolitan Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2002-2003, Residency, Department of Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

About Me
Hirotake Komatsu, M.D., Ph.D. is an assistant research professor in Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute at City of Hope. His expertise is derived from a broad training in medicine and basic research in the fields of pancreas surgery and pancreatic islet transplantation. His long-term goal is to cure diabetes by cell replacement therapy to improve quality of life for patients with diabetes. For the ultimate goal, his research goal is to leverage his experience as an M.D., Ph.D. to bridge biology and bioengineering and expand the application of clinical islet transplantation.
 
Dr. Komatsu obtained M.D. in 2002, at Juntendo University, Japan. He has a long experience as a hepato-pancreato-biliary surgeon over 10 years, and during the period, he pursued a Ph.D. for training in basic research in molecular biology.
 
After obtaining his Ph.D. at Tohoku University, Japan, he joined City of Hope in 2014, where clinical islet transplantation and translational research are actively performed. Working with Yoko Mullen, M.D., Ph.D., one of pioneers of pancreatic islet transplantation since the 1970s, and Fouad Kandeel, M.D., Ph.D, the Arthur D. Riggs Distinguished Chair in Diabetes & Metabolism Research and director of the Islet Cell Transplantation Program for type 1 diabetes, he expanded his researches by clarifying the oxygen-related islet physiology, which is critical for islet survival and transplantation success.
 
Dr. Komatsu also has expanded his research to further investigate clinical research questions that can be improved with novel ideas rooted in engineering. He is actively collaborating with extramural biomedical engineers to achieve the goal, including California Institute of Technology, University of California Irvine, National Institute for Materials Science in Japan, Kyoto University in Japan, and AGC Inc. Japan (formerly Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.).
 
Dr. Komatsu is a member of International pancreas and islet transplant association, and was elected as a member of Young investigator committee (2020 to present), in which he has contributed to the conference activities for the association. Dr. Komatsu authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications after joining City of Hope, and was awarded several extramural research grants including National Institutes of Health, JDRF and Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation as a principal investigator.
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