Hiroko Watanabe

Hiroko Watanabe, MD, PhD is Chief of the Department of Palliative Medicine at the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo and a leading authority on bone metastases management and hospice utilization in Japan. She has led multicenter prospective studies comparing denosumab and zoledronic acid for skeletal-related event prevention across breast, lung, and prostate cancer populations in Japanese patients, contributing to Japan-specific dosing and safety data. Dr. Watanabe is a principal investigator in the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) palliative care working group and has authored national guidelines for palliative radiotherapy in bone metastases, including evidence-based recommendations for single-fraction versus multi-fraction approaches. Her public health research has examined barriers to hospice and palliative care enrollment in Japan's rapidly aging cancer population and has contributed to national policy reform expanding access to community-based palliative services. She has published over 130 papers and is a sought-after speaker at ASCO, ESMO, and the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology.