Prof. Katsuya Hirano

Dr. Katsuya Hirano has been a Professor at the Department of Cardiovascular Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan, since April 2014. His scientific career includes positions as Assistant Research Scientist at the Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Animal Sciences and Muscle Biology Group, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA from 1993 to 1996 and Lecturer and Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Cardiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, from 1996 to 2008 and from 2008 and 2014, respectively. His research interests lie in the physiology and pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system and proteinase-activated receptors in terms of intracellular signalling, especially calcium signalling and protein phosphorylation, proposing novel strategies to combat cardiovascular diseases. He is also renowned in the field of research and currently serves as vice president of the Physiological Society of Japan, as a board member of the Japan Society of Smooth Muscle Research and the Japanese Society of Circulation Research, as a councillor of the Japanese Pharmacological Society and the Japan Section of International Heart Research Society, as an international fellow of the American Heart Association, and as a member of the Japanese Circulation Society, the Molecular Biology Society of Japan, the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and the Japanese Society for Pathophysiology.