Hideo Kusuoka graduated Osaka University Medical School in 1975. He received his PhD in system engineering in 1985 and his PhD degree in medical sciences in 1987 from Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. He is currently Director General of Osaka National Hospital. He is also the Invited Professor of Osaka University Medical School, and the Visiting Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. He served as the chairman of the committee to establish the 5-year plan to promote clinical trials in Japan in 2006.