Merkel Cell Carcinoma Research Receives Tanioku Kihei Memorial Award

Three generations of mentor-mentees gathered in Aomori Japan at the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. DOM members Drs Masaoki Kawasumi, Tomoko Akaike, and Paul Nghiem, all gave plenary session talks.

Left to right: Tomoko Akaike is a Japanese dermatologist doing a clinical research fellowship in Paul Nghiem’s lab at UW.  Tsunetoshi Itoh, a Professor in Sendai Japan, met Paul Nghiem in 1982 in Sendai when Itoh was a fellow working in immunology and Paul was a high school exchange student in Sendai. They later worked together at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dr. Daiki Rokunohe spent two years in Seattle working in the lab of Masaoki Kawasumi (second from right), UW Assistant Professor of Medicine/Dermatology. Masaoki came to Boston in 2004 to work with Paul Nghiem at Massachusetts General Hospital as a post-doctoral research fellow, and moved to Seattle in 2006. Kotaro Nagase, far right, now on faculty at Saga University, spent two years in Dr. Nghiem’s lab at UW from 2010-2012.