In the sixth Find-Your-Role-Model session of the 2015 academic year Dr. Shinichiro Kira, a TMDU graduate and current postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, discussed his career path and research with our students. After graduating from TMDU's Faculty of Medicine in 2008, Dr. Kira received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Washington in Seattle and then moved to Boston for his current position in Harvard's Department of Neurobiology. His research has focused on understanding the neural mechanism for reasoning and decision-making.

In this session, students asked Dr. Kira about such topics as: his decision to get his Ph.D. immediately following medical school; how his knowledge of clinical medicine impacts his career as a researcher; and what he thinks are the similarities and differences between research in Japan and the U.S. Dr. Kira also described how he took steps from an early stage as an undergraduate and tried to make the best of every opportunity so that he could achieve the goals he had set while he was still in junior high school. In the last part of this session, Dr. Kira advised students that in order to make a great achievement, it is important to set small goals and accomplish them one by one. This was a very valuable session for students, especially for those thinking about a future career overseas.