Michael P. Birt is Vice President, Health and Society Affairs and Director of the Center for Health and Aging at The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and Executive Director of The Pacific Health Summit. He also currently holds the position of Affiliate Investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Prior to opening the Center for Health and Aging at NBR, Dr. Birt co-founded a leading U.S.-Asia biomedical business development company and has consulted for many of the world’s leading healthcare, medical technology, and consumer product companies. In his academic career, Michael Birt was an assistant professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington from 1983–1986 and an assistant professor at Wellesley College from 1986–1987. He has served as a visiting professor at Keio University and Hitotsubashi University in Japan.

Dr. Birt is the author of numerous publications and consulting studies. His most recent article is "Chronic Neglect: Meet the Developing World's New Health Emergency—the Rich World's Diseases" in Foreign Policy (September/October 2006). He is co-author of Negotiating the Gray Maze: The Business of Medicine in Japan (1997) and has written articles for publications such as The Journal of Japanese Studies, The Asian Wall Street Journal, and The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, as well as numerous industry consulting reports.

Michael Birt received his Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from Princeton University and has also completed the Certificate Program in Gerontology at the University of Washington. He is fluent in spoken and written Japanese.

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