Junji Tagami

Professor Junji Tagami was educated at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), achieving his DDS in 1980 and his PhD in 1984.  He was appointed to the Professor and Chair of Cariology and Operative Dentistry, at Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 1995.

He is a prolific author who has contributed more than 500 papers to peer-reviewed international journals in the fields of cariology, tooth-colored dental restorative systems, and the bonding of materials to dental tissues. His background in research on the mechanism and structure of caries is believed to be one of the most important factors orienting adhesion as a means of achieving minimally invasive dentistry. The development of the Optical Coherent Tomography(OCT) for dental diagnosis and application for laboratory material testing is one of his outstanding achievements in the recent years.

As the chair of the department, he has supervised over 180 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from Japan and around the world in the past 25 years. Because of his contribution in dental research and education, he was awarded Honorary Degrees from King’s College of London and Mihidol University in Thailand, and the distinguished scientist award, Wilmer Souder Award, from IADR.