Hardy TS Kagimoto

Dr. Tadahisa “Hardy” Kagimoto, MD, is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Healios K.K., a biotechnology company leading the development of stem cell derived regenerative therapies to treat major areas of unmet medical need, including solid tumors, ischemic stroke, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Prior to founding Healios, Dr. Kagimoto founded and ran as President and CEO Aqumen Biopharmaceuticals K.K., a biotechnology company that developed the de facto standard adjuvant used in eye surgery on a worldwide basis. Prior to founding Aqumen, Dr. Kagimoto was a clinical ophthalmologist. Dr. Kagimoto graduated from Kyushu University School of Medicine, and he holds patents in the US, Europe, Japan and China. He is a Director on the board of Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX), an American biotechnology company, and Mobile Hospital International, a nonprofit organization that supports hospital ships for use in natural disaster recovery efforts.

Growing up next to a Shinto shrine in Kumamoto, Japan, Dr. Kagimoto came to appreciate nature and the value of life from a young age, and it was clear early on that medicine would be his pursuit. Specializing in ophthalmology, he believed, would be a highly rewarding path, as sight is arguably the most precious of all human senses, yet there were still many ailments without answers in the field.

During Dr. Kagimoto’s clinical experience, he had witnessed moving episodes of human struggle, and three patients in particular motivated him to want to do more, from a grandfather unable to watch his children play, to a patient who had ended her life upon losing her sight, to a young patient whose life was cut short with a terminal cancer diagnosis after earning placement in a prestigious university. While working to solve acute problems, he encountered intractable diseases and seemingly impossible challenges, and he wanted to cure these diseases through research and innovation before struggling patients reached the clinician’s table. To Dr. Kagimoto, these three cases soon became emblematic of his commitment to cure the uncurable, and today three symbolic crescents adorn his business card to remind him of what is at stake.

After graduating from medical school at Kyushu University in Japan, Dr. Kagimoto traveled to the United States to work, where he came to understand that medical research combined with an entrepreneurial drive could bring cures to patients at scale. While being a clinician, he could solve acute problems across a community of patients, yet he wanted to address the world’s most challenging diseases, and to bring these cures and solutions to the world.