Kenichi Sakamoto, MD, PhD

Affiliations & Leadership

• Assistant Professor of Medicine

Academic Appointments

• Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, 2021

 Hospital Appointments

• Chiba University Hospital, Attending, Department of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology, Japan, 2013 – 2017

• Toranomon Hospital, Fellow in Endocrinology, Japan, 2011 – 2013
• Mitsui Memorial Hospital, Resident in Internal Medicine, Japan, 2009 – 2011

Postgraduate Training/Postdoctoral Appointments

• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Medicine, Endocrine, 2018 - 2020

Education

• Chiba University, Ph.D., Chiba, Japan, 3/2017
• Chiba University, M.D., Chiba, Japan, 3/2009
• The University of Tokyo, B.S., Tokyo, Japan, 3/2005 

Research Interests

I am an endocrinologist with 10 years of experience in metabolism and diabetes research, focusing on the role of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in obesity-associated insulin resistance and metabolic disease.

Ongoing Research Projects:

• Role of the SNS in the pathophysiology of diabetes and obesity
• Sex difference in the pathophysiology of obesity and metabolic disease

Selected Honors & Awards

• The 50th European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Travel Grant Award, Vienna, Austria, 2014
• The 51th European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Travel Grant Award, Stockholm, Sweden, 2015
• Young Investigators Award. The 54th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Molecular Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, 2017
• Young Investigators Award. The 91th Annual Meeting of the Japan Endocrine Society, Miyazaki, Japan, 2018
• Outstanding abstract award, travel grant. Endocrine Society’s Annual Meeting, ENDO 2020, San Francisco, U.S.A. (the meeting was canceled due to COVID-19), 2020
• Bob Handa Early Career and Trainee Award, travel grant. The Mechanisms of Allostasis Conference: Stressed or Stressed Out (Jointly hosted by FASEB and the Endocrine Society), New Orleans, LA, 2022           
• Selected short talk. Keystone symposia: Type 2 Diabetes: Understanding its Early Drivers and the Road to Therapeutics, Palm Springs, CA, 2023

Publications

• Overnutrition causes insulin resistance and metabolic disorder through increased sympathetic nervous system activity. Kenichi Sakamoto, Mary A Butera, Chunxue Zhou, Giulia Maurizi, Bandy Chen, Li Ling, Adham Shawkat, Likhitha Patlolla, Kavira Thakker, Victor Calle, Donald A Morgan, Kamal Rahmouni, Gary J Schwartz, Azeddine Tahiri and Christoph Buettner. Cell Metabolism. 2024 Oct 15:S1550-4131(24)00376-0. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.09.012. PMID: 39437790.
• Brain insulin signaling in metabolic homeostasis and disease. Thomas Scherer, Kenichi Sakamoto and Christoph Buettner. Nature Reviews Endocrinology. 2021 Aug;17(8):468-483. doi: 10.1038/s41574-021-00498-x. PMID: 34108679.

Biography Link:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1-WNe40U7YIwFs/bibliography/public/