On May 19, JMSA hosted the NY Life Science Forum at Nippon Club with co-sponsorships from Arclev, Inc., Arclev Academia Strategists Network, and Mitsubishi Estate. The NY Life Science Forum features Japanese life science researchers based in the US, and it has been an important occasion for networking opportunities among Japanese researchers since the pre-pandemic time. Ms. Nina Harano (neuroscience PhD candidate at NYU and a JMSA student member), Dr. Sei Higuchi (JMSA Board Member), and Dr. Keiichi Ito (JMSA Member) worked together to bring back the forum, which was last held in 2019.

This year’s NY Life Science Forum featured “careers as Japanese researchers in the US,” bringing together successful Japanese scientists from various stages of academic career. Dr. Amy Ikui (principal investigator at Brooklyn College), Dr. Hiro Furukawa (principal investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Dr. Ayaka Kato (postdoctoral researcher at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), and Mr. Daichi Hayakawa (PhD candidate at Brandeis University) were invited. The audience enjoyed listening to their talk about their research projects as well as their unique pursuits of their academic careers. In addition, this year’s NY Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Scholarship recipient Ms. Ayako Kawatake-Kuno (PhD candidate at Mount Sinai) was invited to present.

JMSA strongly believes in the importance of life science research and will continue to support the NY Life Science Forum.