Kazuo Tsubota

Kazuo Tsubota, MD, PhD, FARVO, MBA

Professor and Department Chair, Dept of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

CEO, Tsubota Laboratory, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

Kazuo Tsubota is professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Keio University School of Medicine, his alma mater. An internationally recognized dry eye specialist, Prof. Tsubota has been working on the pathogenesis and treatment of dry eye for much of his career. Prof. Tsubota was the first Japanese recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Honor Award and received the AAO Life Achievement Award in 2020. He has published more than 800 international peer-reviewed articles, and served on numerous academic journals as editor-in-chief, associate editor and editorial board member.

Dr. Tsubota is interested in innovation and serves as director of the innovation program at Keio University. To set an example he established his own company, Tsubota Laboratory, a Keio University-launched startup. He successfully designed and marketed moisture glasses for dry eye which are popular in Japan. His latest research activities spotlight myopia due to the myopia boom affecting Japan and East and Southeast Asia. His research focuses on the hypothesis that violet light has a suppressive effect against the progression of myopia and blue light’s role in determining circadian rhythm, mood, and memory.