View from Japan

My visit to Japan last month illustrated perfectly how vital our ties are to international colleagues.

My host, Dr. Taiji Sakamoto is the Chair of Ophthalmology at Kagoshima University, and a leading retina specialist in his home country. A former Doheny fellow, today, Dr. Sakamoto remains a strong supporter of the Doheny Eye Institute and our mission. Dr. Sakamoto has continued to identify promising candidates in Japan to follow in his footsteps and spend time training at Doheny.

My trip was occasioned by the annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Ocular Circulation, the leading retina subspecialty organization in Japan. While there, I was also honored to speak at Kyushu University and the Tokyo Women’s Medical University, and I connected with at least four other Doheny fellows. This trip, my first visit to the island of Kyushu, provided an opportunity to get a closer look at the art and science of image technology and retinal imaging analysis in Japan.

Our Japanese colleagues, like us, are focused on enhancing skilled image reading to better diagnose and treat eye disease, and I see many potential complementary research and training possibilities. As capacity grows in Japan, we are engaged to continuing to support their work in interpreting and analyzing images. Today we have two Japanese research fellows at Doheny, and in the coming years we expect more.

This enduring commitment to global education through work and friendship is integral to the work of the Doheny Eye Institute. I am appreciative of every opportunity to deepen and extend the spirit of our work with skilled and dedicated colleagues including doctors Tomohori Iida, Taiji Sakamoto, Koh-Hei Sonoda, and Tatsuro Ishibashi in Japan, and many others around the world, who so deeply value their ties to Doheny as they pursue treatments and cures for eye disease.