Dr. Makoto Hashizume, MD, PhD, FACS is a general surgeon, one of the pioneers of minimally invasive surgery in development of research work (Hepatology, Gatroenterology, Science Report, et al.) as well as in clinical application (N Eng J Med, Lancet, et al.), and now a Professor Emeritus of Kyushu University in Japan. He has acquired international recognition in the field of endoscopic surgery and robotic surgery. He is the first surgeon that successfully performed laparoscopic splenectomy with ultrasonically activated director in 1991 (N Eng J Med) and totally intraabdominal gastrectomy, esophagectomy, colectomy, mediastinal tumor resection and so on with surgical robotic system since 2000 (Surg Endosc, 2002). Remote controlled tele-surgery with surgical robotic system was also successfully conducted connected between the two sites; Mt. Fuji and Tokyo in 2004 and between Kyushu University and Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok in 2006-8. He initiated a Training Center for Endoscopic Surgery and trained more than 2000 trainees (not only surgeons but also engineers and industrial researchers) from all over Japan, a Center for Emergency and Critical Care at Kyushu University Hospital as well as a Center for Advanced Medical Innovation. His current research interest includes minimally invasive surgery (Surg Endosc), intelligent surgical robotic system (IJCARS), multidisciplinary computational anatomy (MCA-based Medicine), and portal hemodynamics (Hepatology). He collaborated with a variety of interdisciplinary professionals at academic institutes and industrial companies. He has received over $60 million in collaborative research national grant mainly supported by the Japanese government during the last 15years. He leaded those nation-wide projects as a principal investigator. He has more than 1000 publications including a book, book chapters and peer reviewed articles as well as over 2000 conference presentations. He received an official commendation for Innovative Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2006. He hosted International Annual Congress of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS) and International Society of Computer- Aided Surgery (ISCAS) as a president at Fukuoka in 2014. He is a past executive director of Japanese Society of Computer Aided Surgery (JCAS). He is a deputy editor of IJCARS and associate editor of Journal of IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics.
Dr. Makoto Hashizume graduated after Kyushu University School of Medicine in 1979 and finished residency at General Surgery II, Kyushu University Hospital. He obtained PhD in 1984 from Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, in the area of pathology for portal hypertension. He promoted to Professor and Chairman, Department of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University in 1999. He was assigned the director of Centre for Advanced Medical Innovation, Kyushu University, the director of Department of Integration of Advanced Medicine and Innovative Technology, Kyushu University Hospital (CAMIT), and Chairman, Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University. He was given the title of Distinguished Professor in 2014 and the title of Professor Emeritus in 2018, Kyushu University. He is now an executive director of Kitakyushu Koga Hospital, Japan.
He is at work on development of minimally invasive surgical robotic system collaborated with engineers and basic researchers. He is a principal investigator of the national project on Multidisciplinary Computational Anatomy which is funded by MEXT grand-in-aid for scientific research on innovative areas. He received an official commendation for innovative technology from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2006. He also won “the special prize of this year’s robot 2007” for MR compatible surgical robotic system.