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Dr. Toru Kimura is the Chief Scientific Officer and a member of the board of directors of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. Dr. Kimura joined Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals as a scientist after completing his Ph.D. in 1989. Over the next three decades, he held management positions of increasing responsibility. In 2013 he established and led the Regenerative & Cellular Medicine Office to promote the research and development of products based on induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology. In this role, he encouraged collaborative research and development efforts with academia and industry. Dr. Kimura and his team conceptualized the formation of a world-class facility in which regenerative medicine and cell therapy products could be manufactured. This concept was brought to fruition in 2018 with the completion of the SMaRT (Sumitomo Dainippon Manufacturing Plant for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy) manufacturing plant in Osaka.

Dr. Kimura’s expertise has been recognized with a position on the board of directors for the Forum for Innovative Regenerative Medicine (FIRM), which seeks to build a consensus among international governments, academia, and industry organizations regarding the research and application of regenerative medicine. In addition, from 2019 to 2021 he served as a member of the Expert Panel of the Council for Science and Technology Policy in Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.