Momoko Yoshimoto, MD, PhD

Dr. Momoko Yoshimoto, MD, Ph.D., obtained her medical degree from Mie University Faculty of Medicine in 1993, followed by a two-year residency in general Pediatrics and a three-year fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital. She gained further experience as an attending Pediatric Hematology-Oncologist at Mie University for one year. Then, She entered Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine and earned her Ph.D. in 2003. In 2005, Dr. Yoshimoto joined Dr. Mervin Yoder's lab as a postdoctoral researcher at Indiana University School of Medicine. Her exceptional contributions led to her promotion to Research Assistant Professor in 2009. Notably, she secured an R56 grant in 2015 and an R01 grant the following year. In 2016, she was recruited as an Associate Professor at the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at McGovern Medical School, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, where she established her laboratory. Dr. Yoshimoto's scientific career has been dedicated to investigating developmental hematopoiesis in mouse embryos, focusing on the emergence of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells from hemogenic endothelial cells. Her contributions are reflected in 68 peer-reviewed publications, with 11 as the corresponding author. She has recently secured a new R01 grant and earned an exceptional impact score for her R21 grant. In education, Dr. Yoshimoto has served as co-director of the Immunology Program at MD Anderson and UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences for the past two years. She has also directed the Fundamental Immunology course and co-directed the Principle of Stem Cell Biology course for the last four years. Additionally, she actively contributes to the academic development of Ph.D. students, serving on committees for three students. Dr. Yoshimoto is extensively involved in scientific community activities. She has been invited multiple times to serve on NIH study sections. Moreover, she participates in the peer-review process by reviewing 3-4 original articles per year submitted to high-impact journals such as Nature Communications, Advanced Science, and Developmental Cell, among others. Additionally, she contributes her expertise by reviewing abstracts for annual meetings of the International Society of Experimental Hematology (ISEH) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH). Dr. Yoshimoto holds membership in the Junior Faculty Committee at ISEH and the ASH Scientific Committee. She is also a founding member of the Immunology Consortium at the Gulf Coast Consortium (GCC) in Texas, where she has been an integral part of the steering committee for the annual GCC Immunology meetings for the past three years.