Brain science

About author:

Dr. Ryuta Kawashima is a Director of Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University from 2014. Throughout the years, Dr. Kawashima studied at Tohoku University School of Medicine, and the Graduate School of Medicine where he earned his M.D. He also spent some time in Sweden as a guest researcher at the famed Karolinska Institute.

He has succeeded in developing and spreading the use of a new system to improve the cognitive function of senior citizens suffering from senile dementia as well as healthy people by top-down application of the basic research findings involving functional brain imaging (Kawashima et al. 2005). The system to improve the cognitive function of dementia patients, called “learning therapy,” is used at more than 1,400 facilities (as of the end of 2011) for the care of more than 12,000 patients. The economic effect of the system has been estimated to reduce nursing care insurance costs by 100,000 yen per person annually (Organization of the Learning Therapy). The system has also been proven to be effective in preventing dementia (Uchida & Kawashima 2008), and is used for the welfare of senior citizens in 327 municipalities.

He has won the Prizes for Science and Technology, The Commendation
for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology in 2009. His scientific output includes
over 250 peer reviewed papers and the 200 books.