Professor and Chairman Yoshinori Marunaka
Dr. Marunaka is Professor and Chairperson, Departments of Molecular Cell Physiology and Bio-Ionomics, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan, and also serves as Director, the Library at the university, and Director and Professor, Japan Institute for Food Education and Health, St. Agnes’ University. He is President-Elect, The Physiological Society of Japan, and Chief Editor, Journal of Physiological Sciences; Editor, Peer J; Review Editor, Frontiers in Physiology; Associate Editor, International Journal of Bioinformatics Research; Editorial Board Member, Respiratory and Translational Medicine etc, and Chair of Grants and Awards Committee, International Society for Translational Medicine. He was also The President, International Society of Cancer Metabolism, Editorial Review Board Member, American Journal of Physiology Renal Physiology, and a member, Program Committee Member, American Thoracic Society. He further serves as Review Board Member, Research Grants of Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Canada, Review Board Member, Research Grants of Wellcome Trust, England, Review Board, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the President of the 86th Annual Meeting, Physiological Society of Japan (2009), and also the President of the 3rd Meeting of International Society for Proton Dynamics in Cancer (2012). He was awarded “Marco Polo della Scienza Italiana” (Italian Government), The Premier's Research Excellence Award (Canadian Government), Scholar Award
(Medical Research Council of Canada) and Research Award from The National Kidney Foundation of USA. He obtained MD degree (1979) and PhD degree (1985) from Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. He was Instructor, Department of Physiology, Shiga University Medical Science, Research Associate, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Emory University School of Medicine, and Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto). His current research focuses on regulation of epithelial ion transport including Na+, H+ and Cl-, epithelial cell growth, and roles of H+ and Cl- in cell function including cell growth, neurite elongation, diabetes mellitus etc., Japan