Dr Tomoya Saito

Doctor Tomoya Saito is the Director of the Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response, National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan. With extensive expertise in public health emergency preparedness and response, particularly in the areas of pandemics, emerging diseases, and bioterrorism, he actively contributes to health security efforts, such as the response to COVID-19, the public health preparedness for mass gathering events, the development of IHR core capacities, and CBRN and pandemic preparedness.

Previously, Dr Saito served as the Director of the Department of Health Crisis Management at the National Institute of Public Health, Japan. From 2011 to 2014, he worked as a medical officer at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, where he participated in responses to public health events, including the Great East Japan Earthquake and a nuclear power plant incident in 2011 and emerging diseases such as influenza A/H7N9, MERS, SFTS, and Ebola virus diseases.

Before joining MHLW, Dr Saito was an instructor in the Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology and conducted research on pandemic flu surveillance and clinical studies related to the smallpox vaccine LC16m8. 

Dr Saito has served on the IHR Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 Response, the IHR Emergency Committee on the multi-country outbreak of mpox, the IHR Review Committee regarding Standing Recommendations for mpox, and the IHR Review Committee regarding Standing Recommendations for COVID-19.

Dr Saito holds an MD from the School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. He earned his MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States, and obtained his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Medicine at Keio University, Japan.