Hiroyuki Shimada is currently Director of Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. Also, Visiting Professor of Nagoya University, Shinshu University, and Doshisha University in Japan. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in rehabilitation medicine at the Kitasato University. After seven year’s working as a researcher at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, he moved to the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. Research interests include cohort study and intervention study to prevent disability in the older adults. He has been conducting longitudinal interdisciplinary studies on the physical activity and health implications of older adults. As a result of this, he has consulted and advised internationally for numerous organizations on the quantitative assessment of physical activity and the development of analytical system/techniques for assessing physical and cognitive function for the promotion of health in older adults.  His research focus is to enable the elderly to lead a healthy independent life without declining to a state that requires long-term care, particularly on the early screening and intervention of dementia and frailty, and development of feasible preventive strategies for independent life.