Kenji Kamiya, Chair

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About

Dr. Kenji Kamiya has served as Chair of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) since June 2023. In 1977, Dr. Kamiya graduated from the School of Medicine at Hiroshima University. After a clinical-residency experience, he went on to study radiation carcinogenesis at a graduate school in the area of experimental pathology in 1979. For a period of five-and-a-half years, he studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the United States, focusing on the field of radiation biology. During that time, he conducted research that led to the development of cancer risk-assessment models and quantified early carcinogenic events using a mammary-cell transplantation system. In 1987, he began work as a research associate at the Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine (RIRBM) at Hiroshima University. That marked the beginning of his exploration into diverse areas such as radiation biology, mechanisms of radiation carcinogenesis, and radiation-disaster medicine. In 1996, he assumed the post of professor at the RIRBM, where he started research activities in earnest. To analyze the relationship between point mutations and radiation carcinogenesis, for example, he analyzed effects on carcinogenesis using mice through cloning and functional analysis of Y-family polymerases such as REV1. Using genetically modified mice, he also pursued research on a radiation signature (genetic damage caused by radiation) to elucidate genomic mutations specific to radiation carcinogenesis. He served as the Director of the RIRBM for a total of eight years, making progress on further development of the institute. During that period, he also served as President of the Japanese Radiation Research Society and as a member of the Science Council of Japan.

After Hiroshima University was designated a tertiary radiation emergency medical institution, he assumed the role of Director at the Radiation Emergency Medicine Promotion Center of Hiroshima University (renamed in 2022) in 2004. In that capacity, he worked diligently on implementing projects aimed at enhancing Japan’s emergency medical system for radiation-exposed patients.

In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear-reactor disaster, he became Vice-President of Fukushima Medical University in 2011. Subsequently, in 2016, he was appointed as Executive Director of the Radiation Medical Science Center for the Fukushima Health Management Survey at the same university, where he engaged in the Fukushima Health Study. He was selected to serve as a Vice-President of Hiroshima University in 2013, with responsibilities encompassing recovery support and radiation-exposure medicine, and he also engaged in university-wide support for recovery efforts in Fukushima. Concurrently, he actively participated in administration-related activities and was appointed as a member of the Cabinet Secretariat’s Professional Group on Nuclear Disasters in 2011, serving as Fukushima Prefecture’s Radiation Health Risk Management Advisor. Since 2014, he has served as Chairperson of the Radiation Council of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, working on efforts to protect the public from radiation.

Education

1987
Ph.D. in Medicine, Hiroshima University
1979-1986
Post Graduate School of Medicine, Hiroshima University
1977
M.D., Hiroshima University School of Medicine, medical license

Experience

  • 2023-Chair, Radiation Effects Research Foundation

  • 2022-2023

    Director, Radiation Disaster Medical Support Center, Hiroshima University (renamed in July 2022)

  • 2016-2023

    Executive Director, Radiation Medical Science Center for the Fukushima Health Management Survey, Fukushima Medical University

  • 2016-2023

    Specially appointed Professor, Hiroshima University

  • 2014-2020

    Chairperson, Radiation Council of the Nuclear Regulation Authority

  • 2013-2023

    Vice-President, Hiroshima University

  • 2011-2023

    Vice-President, Fukushima Medical University

  • 2011-2021

    Cabinet Secretariat Government of Japan, Professional Group on Nuclear Disasters

  • 2011-2020

    Radiation Health Risk Management Advisor, Fukushima Prefecture

  • 2011-2023

    Specially designated professor to the President, Fukushima Medical University

  • 2009-2013

    Director, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine Hiroshima University

  • 2006

    Adjunct Professor, School of Radiation Medicine and Public Health, Soochow University

  • 2004-2022

    Director, Radiation Emergency Medicine Promotion Center, Hiroshima University

  • 2002-2006

    Director, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University

  • 1996-2016

    Professor, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University

  • 1992-1992

    Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

  • 1991-1996

    Assistant Professor, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University

  • 1988-1988

    Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

  • 1987-1991

    Research Associate, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University

  • 1982-1987

    Research Associate, Project Associate, Associate Researcher, Department of Human Oncology, Clinical Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

  • 1977-1979

    Research Associate, School of Medicine, Hiroshima University

  • 1977-1977

    Medical staff (resident physicians), University Hospital, Okayama University

Honors and awards

  • 2022

    Chugoku Cultural Award, The Chugoku Shinbun

  • 2021

    Japanese Radiation Research Society Award for honorary member

  • 2020

    Certificate of gratitude, Nuclear Regulation Authority

  • 2020

    Japanese Radiation Research Society’s JRRS Outstanding Contribution Award

  • 2017

    Radiation Effects Research Achievement Award, Radiation Effects Association

  • 2013-

    Recognized as Hiroshima University “Distinguished Professor”

  • 2012

    Awarded for contributions to disaster prevention by Prime Minister, Cabinet Office

  • 2011

    Hiroshima University Special Presidential Commendations

  • 2009

    Awarded for contributions to disaster prevention by Minister of State for Disaster Management, Cabinet Office

  • 2009

    Presented with Asian Association for Radiation Research Award

Selected publications

Sasatani M, Shimura T, Doi K, Zaharieva EK, Li J, Iizuka D, Etoh S, Sotomaru Y, Kamiya K. Morphology dynamics in intestinal crypt during postnatal development affect age-dependent susceptibility to radiation-induced intestinal tumorigenesis in Apc Min/+ mice: possible mechanisms of radiation tumorigenesis. Carcinogenesis, 44:105-118. 2023.
Takahashi H, Yasumura S, Takahashi K, Ohira T, Ohtsuru A, Midorikawa S, Suzuki S, Shimura H, Ishikawa T, Sakai A, Suzuki S, Yokoya S, Tanigawa K, Ohto H, Kamiya K. Nested matched case control study for the Japan Fukushima Health Management Survey’s first full-scale (second-round) thyroid examination. Medicine (Baltimore), 99 (27): e20440. 2020.
Ohira T, Ohtsuru A, Midorikawa S, Takahashi H, Yasumura S, Suzuki S, Matsuzuka T, Shimura H, Ishikawa T, Sakai A, Suzuki S, Yamashita S, Yokoya S, Tanigawa K, Ohto H, Kamiya K; Fukushima Health Management Survey group. External Radiation Dose, Obesity, and Risk of Childhood Thyroid Cancer after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident: The Fukushima Health Management Survey. Epidemiology, 30: 853-860. 2019.
Sasatani M, Xi Y, Kajimura J, Kawamura T, Piao J, Masuda Y, Honda H, Kubo K, Mikamoto T, Watanabe H, Xu Y, Kawai H, Shimura T, Noda A, Hamasaki K, Kusunoki Y, Zaharieva EK, Kamiya K. Overexpression of Rev1 promotes the development of carcinogen-induced intestinal adenomas via accumulation of point mutation and suppression of apoptosis proportionally to the Rev1 expression level. Carcinogenesis, 38(5): 570-578. 2017.
Kamiya K, Ozasa K, Akiba S, Niwa O, Kodama K, Takamura N, Zaharieva EK, Kimura Y, Wakeford R. Long-term effects of radiation exposure on health. Lancet, 386(9992): 469-78. 2015.
Yasumura S, Hosoya M, Yamashita S, Kamiya K, Abe M, Akashi M, Kodama K and Ozasa K. Study Protocol for the Fukushima Health Management Survey. J Epidemiol, 22(5): 375-383. 2012.
Tanigawa K, Hosoi Y, Hirohashi N, Iwasaki Y, Kamiya K. Loss of life after evacuation: lessons learned from the Fukushima accident. Lancet, 379: 889-891. 2012.
Masuda Y, Takahashi M, Tsunekuni N, Minami T, Sumii M, Miyagawa K, Kamiya K. Deoxycytidyl transferase activity of the human REV1 protein is closely associated with the conserved polymerase domain. J Biol Chem, 276(18): 15051-15058. 2001.
Kamiya K, Gould MN, Clifton KH. Quantitative studies of ductal versus alveolar differentiation from rat mammary clonogens. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med, 219(3): 217-225. 1998.
Kamiya K, Yasukawa-Barnes J, Mitchen JM, Gould MN, Clifton KH. Evidence that carcinogenesis involves an imbalance between epigenetic high-frequency initiation and suppression of promotion. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 92: 1332-1336. 1995.

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