Kazuhito Morioka, MD, PhD

Kazuhito Morioka, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
Basic Science
Orthopaedic Trauma Institute at Zuckerberg San Francisco General - Trauma & Problem Fractures
 

Publications

Awards Honors

  • Student Competition Finalist Presenter
    2015
    Student Competition Finalist Presenter, 33rd Annual symposium of the National Neurotrauma Society, 2015
    33rd Annual symposium of the National Neurotrauma Society
  • Student Competition Finalist Presenter
    2014
    Student Competition Finalist Presenter, 32th Annual symposium of the National Neurotrauma Society, 2014
    32th Annual symposium of the National Neurotrauma Society
  • JNS-SfN Exchange Travel Award
    2011
    JNS-SfN Exchange Travel Award, Japan Neuroscience Society & Society for Neuroscience, 2011
    Japan Neuroscience Society & Society for Neuroscience
  • Young Investigator Award (Clinical Research)
    2009
    Young Investigator Award (Clinical Research), 27th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Bone and Mineral Research, 2009
    27th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Bone and Mineral Research
  • Plenary Poster
    2009
    Plenary Poster, 31st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, 2009
    31st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Grants & Awards

  • Maladaptive Plasticity in Spinal Cord Injury: Cellular Mechanisms
    2021-07-15 - 2026-06-30
    NIH R01NS122888
    Role: Co-Investigator
  • Targeting Metaplasia to Enhance Fracture Healing Outcomes, an Animal Model
    2022-09-01 - 2024-08-31
    OTC Foundation Research Grant 2022-RMKM
    Role: Co-Investigator
  • Nociplastic spinal cord-muscle loop in degenerative disc disease (DDD)
    2022-02-01 - 2023-07-31
    UCSF RAP Academic Senate & CCMBM Pilot for Junior Investigators in Basic and Clinical/Translational Sciences
    Role: Principal Investigator
  • Investigation of loading-related spinal plasticity after spinal cord Injury (SCI)
    2013-04-01 - 2015-03-31
    Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation Individual Research Grant WFL-US-013/13
    Role: Principal Investigator
  • Investigating the mechanism and management of spasticity after spinal cord injury
    2011-05-01 - 2013-03-31
    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) 23700659
    Role: Principal Investigator
  • The role of remyelination in functional recovery after spinal cord injury
    2011-05-01 - 2013-03-31
    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 23300204
    Role: Co-Investigator
  • Induction of corticospinal tract regeneration in chronic spinal cord injury rats, using combination of gene transfer and motor training
    2010-01-01 - 2011-12-31
    The Japanese Society for Musculoskeletal Medicine Scientific Project
    Role: Co-Investigator
  • Identification of possible treatment effects of functional recovery by rehabilitation after spinal cord injury
    2010-01-01 - 2010-12-31
    Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation Research Grant
    Role: Principal Investigator
  • Investigating the mechanism for contribution of rehabilitation to functional recovery in the subacute phase of spinal cord injury
    2009-04-01 - 2010-03-31
    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists 21800092
    Role: Principal Investigator

Education

University of California, San Francisco 12/2021
University of California, San Francisco 03/2021
Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of California, San Francisco 03/2018
Research Fellow National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities 03/2012
PhD The University of Tokyo 03/2009
Residency The University of Tokyo and the affiliated hospitals 06/2002
MD The Jikei University, School of Medicine 03/2000

About Kazuhito Morioka, MD, PhD

Over the past 10 years, Dr. Morioka has worked in clinical orthopaedic surgery from an emergency to rehabilitation as a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Tokyo. In the Ph.D., he focused my clinical scientist training on better understanding orthopaedic disorders and developing innovative therapies at Dr. Yusuke Nakamura’s Laboratory, University of Tokyo. After training of pre-clinical central nervous system trauma research at Dr. Martin E. Schwab’s Laboratory, University of Zurich, he conducted the funded projects on spinal cord injury (SCI) research focusing on disuse and spasticity at Japanese National Rehabilitation Center. His mentoring and grantsmanship skills were developed through these experiences.

As a postdoctoral fellow in the UCSF Brain and Spinal Injury Center (BASIC), Dr. Morioka performed research on synaptic plasticity after injury using a comprehensive approach to identify the mechanisms underlying the pathological alternations, which was supported by an Austrian research grant. Leveraging his broad background and expertise, he conducted the collaborative research on polytrauma (traumatic brain injury with concomitant bone fracture) with the UCSF Orthopaedic Trauma Institute (OTI), osteoarthritis with the UCSF Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, microgravity with the UCSD Clinical Physiology Laboratory, and translational SCI with the VA Gordon Mansfield SCI Consortium. These experiences formulated his scientific approach as well as strengthened his mentoring ability.

Dr. Morioka’s current research at the OTI focuses on endochondral fracture healing to study pathological mechanisms and therapeutic intervention for intractable bone fractures, such as delayed, mal, non-union in terms of the interaction between the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. His future research interests are shaped by all experiences toward the cross-interaction within both systems for further understanding of systematical mechanisms of orthopaedic disorders. He hopes that his works might improve patients' quality of life by addressing significant unmet clinical needs.