Dr. Ichiro Nishimura received his dental training from Tokyo Dental College (DDS, 1981) and Harvard School of Dental Medicine (DMD, 1993). His advanced research training at Harvard resulted in the Doctor of Medical Sciences (DMSc) degree in 1986. After a postdoctoral fellowship in cellular and molecular biology under Professor Bjorn Olsen at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Nishimura started tissue regeneration and biotechnology research in 1989 at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He has served as Director of the Harvard-MIT Biomaterials Research Training Program (1993-95) and Director of the Predoctoral Research Program of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (1995-97). He joined UCLA in 1997 and established the Jane and Jerry Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology, which is supported by the National Center for Research Resources and philanthropic contributions from film and entertainment industry. Dr. Nishimura is an avid double bass player. He appears regularly as a community member of the Santa Monica College Symphony Orchestra at the Broad Stage.

Dr. Nishimura has served as a reviewing consultant for National Institutes of Health (USA), National Science Foundation (USA), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK) and Christian Doppler Forschungsgesellschaft (Austria). He has received scientific/academic awards including Distinguished Faculty Award (Harvard, 1993), Distinguished Service Award (American Association for Dental Research, 1999), Appreciation of Services (US Department of Health & Human Services, 2000 & 2005) and Distinguished Scientist Award (International Association for Dental Research, 2004). His current research focuses on Translational Medicine in the field of biotechnology of tissue engineering and wound healing, which has been published in scientific journals such as Journal of Biological Chemistry, Proceeding of National Academy of Science USA, Journal of Clinical Investigation, American Journal of Pathology, and Journal Bone and Mineral Research.