Mr. Sugiyama is the founder and Chair of the Board of Directors at Ono Pharma Foundation, a 501(c)(3) entity established in 2017. The foundation administers the Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Awards Program, which supports scientists with creative ideas in chemical biology to seek discoveries and solutions, and develop high-impact science. In addition, he serves as the Director of Foundation Relations and Innovation Acceleration at Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., leading catalytic activities to address important problems in drug discovery and find solutions. In this role, he and his team engage with academic institutions and bio-venture companies across North America. Mr. Sugiyama holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Osaka University and has been contributing to exploratory research, project evaluation for in-licensing, and discovery research alliances and partnerships between Ono Pharma, academic institutions, and companies since 1996. He has particular expertise in early-stage drug discovery and has contributed to projects targeting cancers, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, and new modalities. Additionally, in 2019, he began teaching a drug discovery class as a Professor in the TLS-I graduate student program at the University of Tsukuba.
Furthermore, Mr. Sugiyama is a member of the planning committee at the Senri Life Science Foundation and has been serving on the R&D Committee of the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA) since 2021.