Hideaki Koizumi is a fellow, the highest ranking technical position, of Hitachi, Ltd. The honor, which was accorded him in 2004, recognizes his groundbreaking contributions to medical imaging and environmental measurement. Dr. Koizumi is known for his work in the early 1990s on functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), a technique for directly observing brain activity, and his subsequent development of optical topography, a non-invasive imaging method using near infrared light to measure higher order brain function. He joined Hitachi in 1971 upon graduation from the University of Tokyo, and his first major achievement was the development of the basic principles for polarized Zeeman-effect atomic absorption spectrometry, which can analyze trace metals, including those in living organisms and the environment, with a high degree of accuracy. On the basis of this work, he was awarded a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tokyo in 1976. In addition to his Hitachi position, he currently serves as a director of the Brain Science and Society Division of the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society of the Japan Science and Technology Agency and as auditor of the National Institute of Environmental Studies, as well as in various other government or semi-government positions. Dr. Koizumi is also a visiting professor of the Research Centre for Advanced Technology of the University of Tokyo. Earlier in his career, he spent several years in the United States, first as a visiting scientist at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. and then as a guest research physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He was appointed chief scientist of the Medical Electronics Research Department of Hitachi’s Central Research Laboratory in 1992, and seven years later, he became general manager of its Advanced Research Laboratory. In 2003, he was named senior chief scientist—corporate technology, a post he held until being chosen as a fellow in 2004. His research has been recognized by numerous awards, among them: three Okochi Memorial Prizes, including the Grand Prize; the Grand Prize of the Nikkei BP Technology Award; a commendation as a Person of Scientific and Technological Merit by the Japanese Minister of State for Science and Technology; various patent awards; and two R&D 100 Awards given by R&D Magazine. Currently serving as president of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry and vice president of the Japanese Society for Baby Science, he also is a director of the Institute for Seizon and Life Sciences, the Global Association for the Welfare of Children, the Japan Neuroscience Society, the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society, and the Sony Foundation for Education, where he chairs the Preschool Education Program for Children. Dr. Koizumi also serves as a member of the governing board of Aprica Kassai, Inc. and on various national scientific and education committees. He has delivered numerous lectures, including one at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of its founding, and published more th than 150 papers in leading scientific journals.