Masaharu Nishimura

I was graduated from Hokkaido University School of Medicine in 1977, and appointed as the current position in 2001 (Professor and Chairman, Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Hokkaido Graduate School of Medicine; First Department of Medicine, Hokkaido University Hospital). Although my main research interest has been COPD, my department activities cover a wide range of pulmonary diseases, including lung cancer and pulmonary hypertension. I have published more than 200 peer-reviewed original papers in English. For my accomplishment of research in control of breathing and COPD, I was awarded Kumagai Prize in 1997 and Erwin von Baelz Prize in 2005, both of which are highly appreciated in Japanese Respiratory Society (JRS). I am an immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors, JRS, and an Associate Editor of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.