Principal Investigators

Dr. Kashiwagi grew up in Nagano, Japan, where he developed an early interest in science and was fascinated by living creatures, especially insects. He decided to go to medical school and obtained his MD degree at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, in 1997. After finishing his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and taking care of more than 1,000 childbirths, he started his research career at Keio University Graduate School of Medicine in Tokyo. Dr. Kashiwagi obtained his PhD in the field of biochemistry in 2004. Although he enjoyed practicing medicine, he was also interested in research and took the advice of his boss in Tokyo to come to the United States to do a postdoctoral fellowship. His postdoctoral training was in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Cardiovascular Research Center, and Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), studying tumor angiogenesis, nitric oxide biology, and immunology. In 2018, he joined the Department of Radiology at MGH and started working on the development of a new imaging technology to dissect the immune response in the context of cancer, allergy, and infectious diseases with the ultimate goal of translating the knowledge into clinical practice. His group’s current focus has been to establish safe, effective, simple, and affordable therapy for neurological disorders, infectious diseases, allergies, autoimmune diseases, and cancer using near-infrared laser technology. With his broad background in reactive oxygen species, immunology, bioimaging, and laser medicine, Dr. Kashiwagi is poised to create a synergy of interdisciplinary collaboration between laser technology and immunotherapy to save patients from these diseases worldwide.