Dr. Sano graduated from University of Tokyo in 1980, and in his early thirties, spent 15 months at Institute Curie, Paris, where he learned European culture and taste of wine. As a specialist gastric cancer surgeon, he has visited more than 110 cities in 43 countries outside Japan for lectures and live demonstration of D2 gastrectomy. He is Secretary General of the International Gastric Cancer Association and participated in formulating TNM classification and JGCA treatment guidelines. He played central roles in surgical RCTs of Japan Clinical Oncology Group. He is now Director of Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo, and is involved in Governmental funding agency for cancer research.