Hironori Yamamoto, MD, PhD, serves as the Chairman and Professor of the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology at Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan. He also serves as the Vice President of Jichi Medical University Hospital and the Director of the Endoscopy Center. He was born and raised in Kochi, Japan. He graduated from Jichi Medical University in 1984. He then gained post-graduate clinical training in the Kochi Central Hospital from 1984 – 1986 followed by overseas training at Department of Gastroenterology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota and Department of Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, Texas. He returned to Japan to join the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Jichi Medical University in 1995. He is the inventor of double-balloon endoscopy and also one of the pioneers of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). He has published widely on gastrointestinal endoscopy. He was honored with the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) Crystal award for international service and the German Society of Gastroenterology Endoscopy Award in 2015.