Ms. Ayu Yoneda, a sixth-year student at the UTokyo School of Medicine and recipient of the FUTI Global Leadership Award won the Future Scientist Award, the highest award in the student category, for her poster-presentation at the JMSA (Japanese Medical Society of America) NY Life Science Forum 2018. Co-sponsored by the JMSA and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the forum aims at promoting exchanges among Japanese doctors, researchers, and students working in the U.S. and communicating the excitement of life sciences to the general public through presentations of research results. Ms. Yoneda comments on her experience:
“I was able to participate in this forum because it overlapped with the time when I was doing a pediatric surgery clinical clerkship for one month at Harvard Medical School under the support of FUTI. My poster presentation was about the research I conducted in the pediatric laboratory at the University of Tokyo. It identified a genetic mutation that causes a rare disease which develops due to a congenital abnormality of a single gene encoding histone acetyltransferase. My research also analyzed the result of gene mutations and pathogenic mechanisms.
I am honored to receive such an award. It was also very valuable to receive feedback from those who are interested in my research. Additionally I met many medical professionals who were active in the United States. From them, I was able to learn that various career paths are possible. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to FUTI which made my internship in the U.S. possible, the JMSA which organized the forum, and my professors and staff at the pediatric lab at UTokyo, who taught me how to conduct high-quality research.”
Dr. Yuichiro Kuwama, Vice-President of Friends of UTokyo and a faculty member of Mount Sinai Medical School commented, “We are very pleased to support Ms Yoneda’s clinical clerkship at the Harvard Medical School. Our sincere congratulations to her receipt of the Future Scientist Award.” Dr. Masako Osako, FUTI Scholarship Committee member and the Executive Director of New York-London based International Longevity Center Global Alliance, Ltd added, “We have high expectations for Ms. Yoneda to become a leader in her field not only in Japan but also around the world.”