For the third “Find-Your-Role-Model” Session in AY2021 (62^nd overall), we invited Dr. Ryo Kubota, Representative Executive Officer, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd.

Dr. Kubota received his MD and Ph.D. from the School of Medicine at Keio University, where he started conducting research in the field of ophthalmology while working as an ophthalmologist. During this time, he discovered Myocilin, one of the causative genes of glaucoma. After gaining clinical experience at Toranomon Hospital he then moved to the United States to continue his career as an associated professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2001. Then, in 2002, he established his first start-up, Kubota Vision Inc. Currently, as president and CEO of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., he is engaged in developing new drug candidates for numerous ophthalmologic diseases, as well as wearable devices designed to treat myopia.

Regarding mindset in pursuing a career, one of the topics of this FYRM session, Dr. Kubota stated that his childhood experience of living in the United States played a major role. He mentioned that the education which puts emphasis on the process of logical thinking and his dramatic success of skipping a grade after making a lot of effort to overcome his language disadvantage have been at the root of his values and a driving force in his career. It was also very impressive to learn that the many racist experiences he had in the United States strengthened his identity as a Japanese and motivated him to challenge and succeed as a Japanese national/Japanese company.

In addition, Dr. Kubota said that starting a business is not an end but a means to implement new technology in society for bettering our world. He also mentioned that he does not feel that he is “taking a risk” in his career choices and that he enjoys the daily challenges to make a change/innovation and realize his vision of a world without blindness.

According to Dr. Kubota, Japanese people are generally industrious and regarded as trustworthy, they are also good at improving and making things better, but there is much room for improvement. He emphasized we must all work together hand in hand, including Japanese who have had experience abroad, with mutual respect. At the end of the session, as words of advice for the students starting off on their careers soon, he encouraged us to keep challenging ourselves and cherishing the time we have because “You only live once.”