Ryo Sugihara

My primary ambition is to contribute to healthcare beyond the conventional hospital setting, aiming to improve and protect people's lives through innovative solutions. My profound interest lies in the synergy between digital technologies like AI and the healthcare domain. This passion led me to undertake internships at two medical AI startups during my university years, where I was actively involved in AI development.

Beyond technical development, I possess a strong entrepreneurial spirit, consistently seeking out overlooked daily challenges and conceptualizing solutions. One tangible outcome of this habit was a mobile application I developed in my third year of university for healthcare professionals. The idea stemmed from my own experience preparing for OSCEs, where the lack of simulated patients was a significant challenge. I envisioned using AI avatars on smartphones to allow medical students to practice anytime, anywhere. This project won a business contest hosted by Chiba Bank and Bank of Yokohama, two leading regional banks in Japan. While I considered establishing a company, I ultimately faced setbacks in team management.

Recognizing the need to develop my leadership skills, the following year, I took on the role of Project Leader for the "inochi WAKAZO Project". This initiative supports high school, university, and graduate students in solving healthcare challenges over six months. We successfully operated the program with funding from prominent Japanese corporations, including the Mitsubishi Foundation. Notably, this organization is now slated to exhibit at the Osaka-Kansai Expo.

Currently, I am interning at REAPRA Japan Inc., a venture capital firm that differentiates itself by focusing on super-long-term engagement with entrepreneurs to witness the rise and fall of industries. Through their unique session, student interns like myself articulate our core driving energy and past unfulfilled aspirations, integrating them to define our life missions before joining. Throughout my life, I have often taken on leadership roles, but mostly worked independently, finding it faster to do things myself and hesitant to delegate. However, I now understand the limitations of this approach. To overcome this habit, I am intentionally engaged in recruitment tasks at my current internship, which necessitates constant human interaction. Naturally, I also leverage my accumulated knowledge in AI in my work here.

My journey as a medical student in Japan has extended far beyond conventional textbook learning. Driven by a deep desire to safeguard healthcare outside hospital walls, I have actively sought out and acquired knowledge and experiences not typically taught within university curricula. This unique background, combining deep technical interest in AI, entrepreneurial drive, and practical leadership experience, positions me to bring a distinct perspective to Max Healthcare. I am eager to contribute to and learn from your institution's innovative approach to healthcare delivery and digital transformation.

• "Mixed Realityを利用した医学解剖教育用MPRビューワーの開発"第 23 回日本 VR 医学会学術大会.
• "Proposal of an auction system for the adoption of space medicine experiments in order to distribute space resources efficiently and fairly and a new funding scheme"

• Annual Conference of the Japanese Association for Home Healthcare and Medical Care（2024）

• inochi WAKAZO Project - (2021-2024)
• International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations-Japan(IFMSA-Japan) - (2023)

• Basic Life Support (BLS) - (2021)

My hobbies are traveling and reading. I've already visited over 40 countries. Since childhood, due to my parents' work, I had the unique opportunity to visit places rarely explored by Japanese people, such as the Polynesian region. After entering university, I've focused my travels on Europe and am now just 8 countries shy of visiting every country in Europe. My trips are quite intense; I often walk over 30km a day. I aim to see as much as possible to avoid any regrets, but above all, I absolutely love the thrill of urban exploration and adventure. For instance, in London, I once walked 50km overnight for 10 hours straight.

My reading material often ties into my travels, focusing on the countries and regions I plan to visit as a form of preparation.

I also frequently read books on healthcare. Japan, despite achieving universal healthcare coverage, faces emerging challenges like strained public finances and disparities in medical personnel between urban and rural areas. In stark contrast, India has a large and growing population, with digital transformation advancing rapidly in some hospitals, yet public hygiene standards remain globally low in many regions. I am deeply motivated to immerse myself in India, an environment that presents such a compelling juxtaposition to Japan.