Makoto Kikuchi was born in 1946 in Tokyo, Japan. He received his M.Sc. degree in 1971 in Electrical Engineering and his D.Sc. degree in 1974 at Keio University, Japan. Following appointments at the Institute of Medical Engineering of Tokyo Women’s Medical College, he accepted a post at the National Defense Medical College (NDMC) in 1980, at age of 33, the youngest full professor among all the national medical universities and colleges in Japan, where he served as the Professor and Chair of the Medical Engineering department (1980-), Director of the National Defense Medical College Research Institute (2003-), and Vice-President and Dean of the NDMC since 2007. Now, he is in charge of President of JAAME (Japan Association for the Advancement of Medical Equipment), and Director of MDSI (Medical Device Strategy Institute) of JAAME. Also he is Chief Director of FMDIPA (Fukushima Medical Device Indusry Promotion Agency).
He has made extensive contributions to the development of the bioengineering profession worldwide through his extensive professional activities and service with the government. He has also extensive experience in working with industry partners. He has 51 Japanese Patents and 6 USA patents in terms of theraputic devices. In recognition of his contribution and leadership, he was elected for the initiative member to start up the Strategy Planning Committee of the METIS (Medical Engineering Technology Industrial Strategy) Consortium in Japan since 2001, and has continued to hold that position up to this moment. He has been a member of Japanese Industrial Standard Committee (JISC) more than 25 years, and chaired the JIS committee for medical device and instrumentaion since more than 15 years. He also has been a member of international standardization committee (IEC, ISO) and chaired the ad-hoc committee to produce the ISO/IEC Guide 71- Guideline for standards developers to address the need of older persons and persons with disabilities. He was awarded the Ministry Medal from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) of Japan in 1999 in recognition of many years of service and outstanding contribution for the government and industry through his activities of national and international standardization works.
Makoto Kikuchi served as an International Federation for Medical and Biological Enginering (IFMBE) Administrative Council member (1991-1997), Co-Chair and Chair of the Secretaries Committee (1988-1997), Chair of the New Initiatives Working Group (1997-2003), member of the Finance Committee (2000-2009), Nominating Committee (2000-present), Division for Health Care Technology Assessment (1991-1997), and the Working Group for Asian-Pacific Activities (1997-2009). He served as the Vice-president(2003-2006) and President(2006-2009) of IFMBE. He served also the Vice-president of the International Association for Hyperthermic Oncology (IAHO) (1996-2000), and the Chair of IEEE/EMBS in the Tokyo Section (1992-1995), and a Representative of Region 10 (1995-1996). His memberships and board positions in national academic societies included, Vice-president of the Japanese Society for Medical and Biological Engineering (JSMBE), President of the Japan Society for Hyperthermic Oncology (JSHO), and President of the Japan Society for Laser Surgery and Medicine (JSLSM).
His teaching and research activities include a broad range of biomedical engineering, bio-electromagnetics, bio-photonics and laser applications in therapeutic devices, and tissue engineering. He has published over 1200 papers, book chapters in peer-reviewed publications, and received several awards including, the Kelvin Premium of IEE in 1987, the Medical Instrument Society of Japan Award in 1998, the Magnacum Laube Citation of the American Society of Neuroradiology in 2001, and the Japanese Society of Laser Surgery and Medicine Award in 2002.