Prof. Dr. Jun Nishihira, MD, PhD. President of Hokkaido Information University. Professor of the Department of Medical Management and Informatics, Director of the Center of Health Information Science Center, Hokkaido Information University, Hokkaido, Japan. Dr. Jun Nishihira graduated from Hokkaido University School of Medicine (1979). After he obtained a Medical Degree (MD) from Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan) (1992), he received clinical training at the Hokkaido University Hospital, where he specialized in Hematology and Immunology. Following the clinical training, he joined basic medical research, focusing on infectious diseases and immunology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake-Forest University, Winston Salem, NC (1984-1985). After returning to Japan, he obtained a Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from Hokkaido University. He became a lecturer and later associate professor of the Department of Biochemistry of the medical school, specializing in a clinical trial system for functional food, Diabetes, and Immunology. He became a professor at Hokkaido Information University (HIU) (2006) and is currently the president of HIU.
He published over 300 peer-reviewed papers relevant to basic research and clinical practices. He contributed to establishing a clinical trial system for functional foods in Hokkaido. He has been profoundly involved in nutrition and health research in this field, mainly for diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and digestive tract disorders. Currently, he is working on precision nutrition based on the big data collected by clinical trials for foods targeting non-communicable diseases, including mental stress and dementia.
In 2016, the Ministry of Japan for Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology awarded him the Innovation Network for Community Health. In 2017, he was also honored by the Hokkaido municipal government for his long-term contribution to his science activities in the clinical trial system for food (Hokkaido Science and Technology Award).