KEI HATO

Future of Nutrition,
Youth Advocate

Kei Hato is a passionate STEM student, who hopes to combat the global issue of health disparity and increasing medical burdens through effective nutrition treatments. Her interests extend not only to physical but mental health as well.

Growing up, Kei has watched her father save many lives as a doctor while conducting his own research, and has always been her inspiration. When she developed her own health issues in grade 9, she started reading academic papers to find the mechanisms behind them. The discovery of her grandmother’s cancer was a great shock to Kei, but it was this sad incident that motivated her to read journal after journal about cancer treatment, and exposed her to the world of nutrition as a treatment.

Academic wise, Kei is taking 3 A-levels courses on biology, math, and psychology while attending a full time school in her local curriculum. In terms of extracurriculars, from grade 10, she has been working on a research project at the University of Tokyo to study the effect of diets on colon cancer. This program allows her to learn the foundations and frontiers of medical research, while interacting with leading professors at the university. Lastly, from a personal perspective: Kei also participates actively in sports and leadership roles as the chief of her school sports committee and co-captain of her school tennis team.

Looking ahead to university, Kei hopes to pursue her study in biology and nutrition, as well as learn the fundamentals of research and make connections with top-class researchers. In the future, Kei hopes to become a researcher in order to investigate how diets can be used to treat diseases such as cancer. She hopes to use nutrition as a treatment that can be applied even to individuals that cannot get enough access to medical resources.