Kazuhiko Yamamoto graduated from the University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 1977. After finishing his training and residency in internal medicine and rheumatology, he conducted basic research in the laboratory of Prof T. Tada in Tokyo and Prof G. Haemmerling in Heidelberg. In 1985, he started his own research projects and also served as clinical rheumatologist in the University of Tokyo Hospital. He then moved to St. Marianna University School of Medicine as an associate professor and to Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University as a professor. In 1997, he was promoted to be the professor and chairman of Department of Allergy and Rheumatology, the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine. In 2017, he reached the mandatory retirement age of the University of Tokyo and moved to RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences as a deputy director. In 2020, he become the director. He is also an emeritus professor of the University of Tokyo. Dr. Yamamoto’s research interests include genetic and functional genetic analyses of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases as well as the characterization of newly identified regulatory T cells. He is now planning to establish a research system of human immunology in the research center.