Professor Nakayama is the scientific founder and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of Kanjin Therapeutics. He is a professor of Okayama University, Department of Pathophysiology & Drug Discovery, Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences. Prior to joining Okayama University, Dr. Nakayama was an independent group leader at Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Germany. 

Dr. Nakayama has deep insight and extensive experience in vascular biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology, and applies these disciplines to investigate the biology of human diseases. After graduating from Kyoto University, he obtained his Ph.D. from Nagoya University and spent 15 years in Germany. 

Dr. Nakayama also has a strong business mindset; in addition to leading numerous collaborative research projects with pharmaceutical companies, he served as an advisor at PwC Japan from 2022 to 2025. Furthermore, after conducting joint research with multiple venture capital firms, he founded this company with the mission of making kidney diseases curable.