We celebrated our first anniversary on April 1, 2021. It was a lot of work last year to set up the Foundation, but thanks to the help of many people, we can now stand tall as an independent organization.
At the meeting, held on April 2, our Representative Director, Shinya Yamanaka, said the following to about 100 staff members who participated online.

"This year, the on-site staff created four new guiding principles for the CiRA Foundation. The first of these is to lead society together with patients.

"Our mission as a public interest incorporated foundation is to work for the benefit of patients. As the Representative Director, I am proud that our decisions put patients first.

"Because our iPS cells are used for medical treatment, we don't have many opportunities to meet patients directly. We provide a bridge for doctors other parties.

"However, if we keep in mind that our actions are for patients, we will be motivated to do our best, no matter how challenging our work may be.

"Our work can bring patients together with companies and clinicians by.

"I know there will be more and more challenges in the future, but let's do our best together."

This was followed by the award ceremony for the first Hanamizuki Award.
This award was established to recognize staff members who have made important contributions to the management and operation of CiRA_F.

Prize winner：Mr. Kanehiro EGUCHI, FiT Manufacturing Section Innovation Team Leader.
Award Reason: He designed and implemented CiRA_F's IT infrastructure from the ground up, working to improve the efficiency and convenience of the operations through system development and elevating the productivity of the entire organization.

Mr.Eguchi said
"I feel like an unknown painter who has painted a canvas. I will continue to listen to your feedback and focus on creating a better system, specifically the automation of cell culture equipment and the digitization of data."

For each and every one of us working at the CiRA Foundation, we will continue to work actively to bring iPS cell-based medicine to patients as soon as possible.

*In the new fiscal year, we will continue our activities based on our four new principles.

* We are planning to hold an activity report meeting to commemorate the first anniversary of CiRA_F on Friday, April 23, 2021, at 3:00 pm. If you would like to attend via Zoom, please register in advance. (Please note, the language of the meeting will be Japanese.)