PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kensaku Mori

Also known as 森 健策

Kensaku Mori is a professor at Nagoya University whose work connected AI with medical imaging and computer-aided diagnosis. He earned three engineering degrees at Nagoya, served as a visiting associate professor at Stanford, and wrote about virtual endoscopy for surgery. He became president of the International Society of Computer Aided Surgery in 2018 and received the 2022 MEXT Commendation for Science and Technology. In 2023, he and Masahiro Oda released an AI model that estimates biological sex from fundus images; in 2025, he presented SIGMA, a vision-language model for radiology reports from longitudinal CT volumes. As of October 2026, he is a professor at Nagoya and directs its Information Technology Center and NII's Research Center for Medical Bigdata.

Timeline

  1. 1992–1996

    Engineering at Nagoya

    He earns a B.S. in electronics engineering in 1992, an M.S. in information engineering in 1994, and a Ph.D. in information engineering in 1996 at Nagoya University, under Professor Jun-ichiro Toriwaki.

  2. 2001–2003

    At Nagoya and Stanford

    He serves as an associate professor at Nagoya University's Research Center for Advance Waste and Emission Management from 2001 to 2003 and as a visiting associate professor at Stanford University's Department of Neurosurgery from 2001 to 2002.

  3. 2011

    Virtual endoscopy for surgery

    In a 2011 article, he presents surgical-assistance systems based on medical image processing. The article explains how virtual endoscopy creates endoscopic views from medical images and surveys applications in laparoscopy, neurosurgery, and pulmonary procedures.

  4. 2018

    President of ISCAS

    He is elected President of the International Society of Computer Aided Surgery (ISCAS) in 2018.

  5. 2022

    A MEXT science award

    He receives the MEXT Commendation for Science and Technology in 2022.

  6. 2023

    Fundus image AI

    He and Masahiro Oda develop and publicly release an AI model that estimates biological sex from fundus images in 2023, using data from the Japan Ocular Imaging Registry.

  7. September 2025

    SIGMA for CT reports

    In September 2025, he and Nguyen Cong Khang present SIGMA, an autoregressive vision-language model for automated radiology report generation from longitudinal 3D CT volumes, at the MICCAI ELAMI workshop.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and center director

    As of October 2026, he is a professor in Nagoya University's Graduate School of Informatics and Director of its Information Technology Center. NII lists him as a Visiting Professor and Director of its Research Center for Medical Bigdata, which develops AI to analyze medical images for diagnosis.

Career

  1. Since 2001Nagoya UniversityAssociate Professor
  2. NowResearch Organization of Information and SystemsVisiting Professor, Director
  3. From 2018International Society of Computer Aided SurgeryPresident
  4. 2001–2002Stanford UniversityVisiting Associate Professor

Education

  1. 1996Nagoya UniversityB.S., M.S., Ph.D.

From the biography.

  1. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Stanford University. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Nagoya University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Research Organization of Information and Systems. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Nagoya University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Kensaku Mori yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. 森 健策 | 東京フォーラム 2019 Shaping the Future tokyoforum.tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. DIAGNOSTIC AND SURGICAL ASSISTANCE BASED ON IMAGE PROCESSING jstage.jst.go.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Faculty Profiles - MORI, Kensaku profs.provost.nagoya-u.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Public Release of AI to Estimate Biological Sex from Fundus Images - National Institute of Informatics nii.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Faculty Profiles - MORI, Kensaku profs.provost.nagoya-u.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Research Centers - Research - National Institute of Informatics nii.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Operation of the 'Flow-Ni' Supercomputer Supporting AI Research Has Begun! note.com. Checked 21 October 2026.