Dr. Seiji Shibata and the Value of a Globalized Perspective in Otolaryngology

For some, the answer to the question, “Where did you grow up?” is a relatively simple one, but for others, like Dr. Seiji B. Shibata (MD, PhD), the question necessitates a more complex and detailed response. “I was born in Kentucky and then moved to Japan when I was about 8 years old, which is where I did most of my education, including my medical school education and my residency in otolaryngology,” Dr. Shibata explained. His interest in medicine began at a young age, and with two older brothers who went to medical school, it was hard not to follow in their footsteps (both of his brothers are now practicing doctors in Japan, one an orthopedic surgeon and the other an anesthesiologist). However, Dr. Shibata’s interest in otolaryngology in particular actually originated in high school when he did an exchange program in Germany and stayed with a host family where the father was an otolaryngologist and spoke very highly of the field. In medical school, Dr. Shibata was drawn to the breadth of otolaryngology and, more specifically, the nuances of neuro-anatomy that he was exposed to during rotations.

Dr. Shibata continued his medical education in the United States after finishing his residency in Japan. He realized that he was interested in conducting research in addition to practicing as a physician, and in pursuing his career as a clinician-scientist, he returned from Japan to the United States as a postdoctoral fellow in basic science research at the University of Michigan, studying hair cell regeneration. He then furthered his training by completing a second residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and a surgical fellowship in Neurotology at the world-renowned University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, receiving mentorship from Drs. Bruce J. Gantz (MD), Marlan R. Hansen (MD), and Richard J.H. Smith (MD), all of whom are clinician-scientists. Dr. Shibata was drawn to becoming a clinician-scientist in part because of his curiosity and his desire to better understand why a certain medical intervention works in a given situation, especially in the sub-field of otology (the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the ear): “There are a lot of unanswered questions in the field of otology, a lot of things we don’t really know, and the current treatment options are often limited because of this knowledge gap.” There is an almost poetic beauty to the mysteries of the inner ear, as Dr. Shibata described it: “It’s simultaneously very fragile but also very robust. You can have a genetic variant, a single base-pair point mutation in your DNA, leading to profound hearing loss, and at the same time, surgery using a small prosthesis can completely restore hearing–it’s very fascinating.”

Receiving his secondary and post-secondary education in Japan, Germany, and the United States broadened Dr. Shibata’s perspective on the world at large, and he appreciated that becoming a doctor could enable him to help people in a more globalized context. As a skilled surgeon, Dr. Shibata is able to improve people’s quality of life and do something that allows them to feel better, and in his research on hearing loss and regenerative gene therapy in the inner ear, he hopes to make contributions that will have an even broader impact. In describing his research, Dr. Shibata discussed how the auditory nerve is crucial for hearing, and because the auditory nerve does not regenerate on its own in mammals, this means that there are very few options for people who experience loss or degeneration of this nerve for various reasons. “I’m looking for ways to regenerate the auditory nerve through reprogramming glia cells that can survive nerve damage,” Dr. Shibata said. “If we’re able to figure out how to not just reprogram glial cells in a dish but to do it in vivo/in situ, we could transdifferentiate glial cells into a new induced neuronal phenotype and possibly restore hearing.” In other words, by reprogramming glial cells into neurons, there might be a way to restore the auditory nerve, which could have a monumental impact on combating hearing loss.

This ties back into why Dr. Shibata was so thrilled to join the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in the first place. As someone looking to pursue a career as a clinician-scientist, USC had the best opportunities. “There aren’t a lot of places that actually have a robust cohort of talented scientists in the field of hearing research, and I wanted to go somewhere that provided an environment/structure for that. Moreover, USC has a culture of embracing people who want to go the clinician-scientist route, and the program at USC has a tremendous amount of growth potential.” Dr. Shibata also enjoys the diversity of patients that he gets to see and especially appreciates his ability to serve Japanese-speaking patients. (Los Angeles is the city with the largest Japanese population in the United States.) “Many of my older Japanese patients aren’t fluent enough in English to be able to convey the information that they would want to tell their doctors, and by being able to speak to them in the language they’re most comfortable in, it enables me to build more trust and rapport.” Dr. Shibata’s philosophy as a physician is to treat patients as family, always trying to be honest with them, to explain everything and have the patient decide what they want to do. “This is what I would do for my dad or a family member,” Dr. Shibata said. “The patient should get to be involved in the decision.” Dr. Shibata is a shining example of how a globalized approach to medicine is oftentimes a more personalized approach as well.