Keiichi Fukuda, MD/PhD/FACC

Founder, Representative Director, President and CEO

• • 1987
  • PhD in Clinical Cardiology, Keio University Graduate School of Medicine
• • 1991
  • Growth Factor Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute
• • 1992
  • Dept of Mol. Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School
• • 1994
  • Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Michigan
• • 1995
  • Lecturer, Department of Cardiology, Keio University School
• • 1999
  • Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics, Keio University
• • 2005
  • Professor, Dept of Regenerative Medicine, Keio University
• • 2010
  • Professor, Department of Cardiology, Keio University
• • 2015
  • Founded Heartseed Inc.

Kikuo Yasui

Director and Executive Officer, COO

Mr. Yasui joined Heartseed in 2019 as COO. Before joining Heartseed, he held various positions with increasing responsibilities at AbbVie /Abbott Japan, including Business Unit Manager, Immunology and Group Manager, Market Access. He also worked at Bain. He graduated from the Univ. of Tokyo, Pharmaceutical Sciences. (MSc)

Tatsuyoshi Hirano

Director and Executive Officer, CFO

Mr. Hirano joined Heartseed in 2021 as CAO and transitioned to Director and Executive Officer, CFO in 2026. Before joining Heartseed, he was Chairman and Director of the Board of UMN Pharma Inc., currently a subsidiary of Shionogi Inc. He also has 15 years of top management experience in a global retail company and a biotechnology venture company, including 8 years as Chairman and CEO, Representative Director, following 3 years as CFO at UMN Pharma Inc., and 4 years as EVP, Representative Director and/or CFO at Toys“R”Us-Japan, Ltd. During his career at UMN Pharma Inc. and Toys“R”Us-Japan, Ltd., he successfully led the IPOs of both companies on TSE Mothers in 2012 and JASDAQ in 2000 through global offerings, respectively. He received a BA in Social Studies from Hitotsubashi University and an MA in Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Hitoshi Kawamura

Executive Officer, Head of R&D Division

Dr. Kawamura joined Heartseed in 2018 and serves as Executive Officer, Head of R&D Division since 2026. He spent about 25 years in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, mainly as a clinical development leader for several products, including gene therapy and cardiovascular medicine. Just before joining Heartseed, he led a global development product as Japan project leader and has a track record of enrolling patients in clinical trials. In addition, a biotechnology company to which he contributed at an early stage successfully completed an IPO.

Nobuyuki Takahashi

Executive Officer, Head of Manufacturing Technology Development Dept., R&D Division

Mr. Takahashi joined Heartseed in 2020 and serves as Executive Officer, Head of Manufacturing Technology Development Dept., R&D Division since 2026. Before joining Heartseed, he had more than 25 years of experience in Japanese pharmaceutical company as mainly CMC development. He has extensive experience in GMP of biotechnology products and he led commercial manufacturing planning for developing products. He received his MBA (Management of Technology) from the Waseda Business School.

Takehiko Kaneko, MD

Non-Executive Board Director

Dr. Takehiko Kaneko has diverse experience in large pharma and small biotech companies, leading R&D organizations and teams. Dr. Kaneko joined Heartseed in 2020 as CMO and transitioned to the role of Non-Executive Board Director in 2026. Prior to joining Heartseed, He served on the leadership team at SanBio Co. Ltd, where he was responsible for development and regulatory of cell therapy products. He was also engaged in medical affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb, clinical development at Pfizer, and early development at Novartis. Dr. Kaneko received his medical degree from Keio University School of Medicine.

Yutaro Kasai

Non-Executive Board Director

Mr. Kasai founded Heartseed in 2015. He is also the founder and head of Angel Bridge. Before founding Angel Bridge, he worked top-tier Private Equity firms including Unison Capital and Bain Capital. He started his career at Goldman Sachs IBD. He earned MBA at Chicago Univ. He graduated from the Univ of Tokyo, Agricultural Sciences. (MSc)

Toshiharu Furukawa, MD/PhD

Independent Board Director

Dr. Furukawa was appointed as Independent Board Director of Heartseed in 2017. He graduated Keio University, School of Medicine and earned PhD. He also graduated Keio Univ, School of Literature. He works as a lawyer at TMI Associates. He is also the member of the House of Councilors from LDP.

Kay Deguchi

Independent Board Director

Kay Deguchi is Owner/COO of Ochanomizu Orthooedic Clinic and was President at AbbVie Japan. Prior to this, she held senior roles at Bell System 24, Stryker Japan, Stryker Orthopaedics, Johnson & Johnson, GE Plastics and The Disney Store in addition to Bain and Company. Kay studied law at Tokyo University and received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she gained a distinction.

Tomoyuki Kikugawa

External Audit & Supervisory Board Member

Mr. Kikugawa was appointed as Auditor (full-time) of Heartseed in 2018. He worked at Anritsu (listed in 1st section of TSE) for over 35 years and held increasing responsibility such as CTO and Director, Full-time audits committee.

Akira Fujiyoshi

External Audit & Supervisory Board Member

Mr. Fujiyoshi joined Heartseed in 2019 as External Auditor & Supervisor with his extensive experience in clinical development of new drugs and research management with Eisai. In his career, he spent 12 years in the US for the new drug development of Alzheimer’s disease. After returning to Japan, he was responsible for investor relations as Director. He was a Member of the Board of Eisai and Member of Audit Committee. He served as Board Member with Semba Corporation. He graduated from Kyoto University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Taiji Edogawa, CPA

External Audit & Supervisory Board Member

Mr. Edogawa joined Heartseed in 2021 as External Audit & Supervisory Board Member. After joining Showa Ota & Co. (now Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC), he supported many IPOs of life science-related companies and IT-related companies. In 2020, he founded EDiX Professional Group and assumed the position of Representative Director. In addition to his current focus on supporting technology-related companies, he is involved as an external committee member in a number of innovation-related policies of central government ministries and agencies.