Division and Department

Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology


Hirohide OHNISHI, M.D. & Ph.D.

A Greeting from the Professor

The department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, founded in 1970, has been providing excellent patient care for gastrointestinal and neurological disorders for nearly forty years. Furthermore, we are dedicated to providing advanced training for clinicians and physician scientists. Currently, the department is composed of over 30 physicians endeavoring to further the progress of medical science.

[Our mission]
Clinical practice
The department of Gastroenterology and Neurology provides our patients with cutting-edge medical services including gastrointestinal services, hepato-biliary and pancreatology services, and neurology services at the University Hospital. Our specialists employ the most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, such as:

  1. Endoscopic submucosal dissection for gastrointestinal tumors including esophago-pharyngeal, gastric, and colon cancers.
  2. Double balloon and capsule endoscopy for the diagnosis and treatment of small intestinal diseases such as hemorrhagic disorders, tumors and inflammatory diseases.
  3. Endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of pancreat-biliary diseases.
  4. Novel combined therapeutic strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma with transcatheter arterial chemoembloization (TACE) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA), under real time observation using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography.
  5. Intensive care for neuroimmunological diseases such as myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and limbic encephalitis, and support for home nursing for neurodegenerative diseases.

Education and Research
The faculty of our department provides a number of educational programs, including clinical practice education for physicians and a fellowship training program to train top leaders in academic medicine. The educational program for clinicians consists of clinical practice at the University Hospital and at highly-ranked general hospitals all over the country.

Our research has focused on revolutionary investigations of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of various diseases in the field of Gastroenterology and Neurology. The main themes are

  1. in vivo analysis of gastrointestinal and hepato-pancreato-biliary disorders utilizing total and/or conditional knock out mice,
  2. investigation of molecular mechanisms of organ fibrosis,
  3. growth, migration, and cell death of gastrointestinal cancer cells,
  4. neuro-molecular biology targeting molecular motor proteins and their related proteins, and
  5. investigation of the mechanism of various neuro-muscular diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Over the last several years, our steady efforts have been achieving excellent results. We strongly encourage young motivated physicians to join our department.

Professor and Chairman
Hirohide Ohnishi

Staff

Professor:
Hirohide OHNISHI, M.D. & Ph.D. (gastroenterology)

Associate Professor:
Takashi GOTO, M.D. & Ph.D. (gastroenterology; hepatology)
Mario JIN, M.D. & Ph.D. (gastroenterology)

Lecturer:
Hirosato MASHIMA, M.D. & Ph.D. (gastroenterology)
Masashiro SUGAWARA, M.D. & Ph.D. (neurology)
Tamotsu MATSUHASHIM, M.D. & Ph.D. (gastroenterology)

Research Areas

  1. Gastroenterology
    Mechanism of gastrointestinal mucosal restoration
    Mechanism of gastrointestinal mucosal protection
    Pathogenetic analysis of gastrointestinal disease using gene-targeting mice
    Pathogenic analysis of liver disease using gene-targeting mice
    Pathogenic analysis of pancreatic disease using gene-targeting mice
    Functions of hepatic sinusoidal cells
    New therapy of interferon for chronic hepatitis C
    The role of phosphoinositides in liver and pancreatic diseases.
    Molecular mechanisms in the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
  2. Neurology
    Cell biology of desminmyopathy
    Fluorescence monitoring of SOD-1 in cultured cell related with pathogenesis of motor neuron disease

Contact Information

Associate Professor Takashi GOTO, M.D. & Ph.D.
1-1-1 Hondo, Akita, 010-8543, Japan
Phone; +81-18-834-1111
Fax: +81-18-836-2611
E-mail: takashi@doc.med.akita-u.ac.jp


Staff