Our Team

Waichiro is the co-founder and CEO of ThinkCyte. He started his career at a biotech startup, responsible for business and product development of a medical device in the U.S. and Japan. He was also a management consultant at Monitor Group, mainly focused on corporate strategy development and marketing for the world’s leading pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Waichiro holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Hikaru is Chief Operating Officer and President of ThinkCyte, North America. He brings nearly 10 years of leadership experience at Mitsui & Co., working in various roles at international companies. Prior to joining ThinkCyte, he dedicated to establishing and operating a new company in the U.S. as a Commercial Director after the business acquisition, accountable for $50 million of global annual revenue in more than 50 countries. Previously, he served as a Vice President in the Specialty Chemical Division in another U.S. subsidiary company as well. Hikaru holds an MS in Bioengineering from the University of Tokyo and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Washington, U.S.

Keiji leads product design and development at ThinkCyte. Prior to ThinkCyte, he served as a mechanical engineer at EPSON, specializing in MEMS and microfluidics. He led the design and development of new electronic devices such as an ink-jet printer, which are now successfully commercialized globally. Keiji holds an MS in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Kyoto.

Eiji is Vice President of Intellectual Property and Legal Affairs at Thinkcyte. He brings to this role more than 20 years of experience in intellectual property and research in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining ThinkCyte, Dr. Nara served as Global Head of IP BD/Litigation at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company’s worldwide IP litigations and IP due diligence for acquisitions, partnering, and product in-licenses. In recognition of his contribution at Takeda, he has received Takeda Global Award in 2011. Previously, he was a Senior Director of IP Department, where he was responsible for patent assessments, IP litigations, and other IP related advice or contract review for research collaborations. He started his career as a scientist at Takeda, specializing in a novel drug delivery system. Eiji holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Kyoto University.

Sadao is the co-founder and CSO of ThinkCyte. He is an interdisciplinary scientist at the interface of applied physics, engineering, biology and information science. Prior to ThinkCyte, he was a Sakigake Scholar at Japan Science and Technology Agency and an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, Department of Chemistry. Currently he is an associate professor at U. Tokyo with specialization in networked biophotonics and microfluidics. Sadao holds a Ph.D. in engineering from UC Berkeley.

Ryo is Chief Financial Officer at ThinkCyte. He has nearly two decades of experience in finance and most recently was a CFO at a robotic technology startup, where he directed its fundraising activities and IPO preparation process. Before that, he was a director at Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), a private equity fund, where he orchestrated investment, integration, and restructuring of a private company after making over $2 billion investments, and successfully led the company to an IPO. Prior to that, he was a principal at Nikko Principal Investments and was responsible for multiple buy-out deals, totaling over $300 million. Ryo holds an MS in Physics from Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Janette Phi is Chief Business Officer at ThinkCyte and is responsible for leading global business development and commercial activities. Ms. Phi brings over 30 years of technical and business experience with advanced scientific technology companies. She has served as CBO for IntelliCyt (acquired by Sartorius), COO for Xcell Biosciences and CCO for Applied Cells and ONI. In addition, Janette previously held management positions at ForteBio, Guava Technologies, AmCell, and Becton Dickinson Bioscience.
She holds a B.S. in Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA with an emphasis in Marketing & Finance from Santa Clara University.

Willem is Vice President of Business Development at ThinkCyte. With over a decade of experience in commercializing novel biomedical technologies, Willem joined ThinkCyte from Oxford BioDynamics where he led US business development. He started his career at a Boston-based biotechnology startup that was an early pioneer in combining molecular analyses with AI-based approaches. Willem holds a B.S. in Pharmacological Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from the University of California, San Diego and has authored over 20 publications on the industrial application of cell-based technologies.

Andy is the Director of Business & Corporate Development at ThinkCyte. He has held business development roles at Teijin Pharma and has management consulting experiences at LEK Consulting as a Sr. Life Scientist Specialist, gaining extensive experience and insights in the life science industry. Andy also holds a Ph.D. from U. Tokyo specializing in regenerative medicine.