Tadafumi Kato, MD, PfD.
Dr. Tadafumi Kato is the Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine. He earned his MD from the University of Tokyo. His early research on magnetic resonance spectroscopy in mental disorders began at the Shiga University of Medical Science, and he further expanded his expertise in molecular genetics of mental disorders during a fellowship at the University of Iowa.
Upon returning to Japan, Dr. Kato served as a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine. In 2001, he joined the RIKEN Brain Science Institute as a team leader, where he made significant advancements in the neurobiology of bipolar disorder, particularly focusing on mitochondrial dysfunction. His research group has made pioneering contributions in genomics, including developing the first animal model exhibiting spontaneous, recurrent depression-like episodes. Building on these studies, he is now investigating the role of the paraventricular thalamic nucleus as a critical brain region in the neuropathology of bipolar disorder.
In 2020, Dr. Kato transitioned to Juntendo University, where he continues to translate his neurobiological discoveries into clinical research. He has authored over 400 publications with an H-index of 71 and remains dedicated to bridging basic neuroscience and clinical psychiatry to improve mental health outcomes.
Dr. Kato has been serving as an Editor-in-Chief of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, and official journal of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology since 2014.
Publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7856-3952