Interview with Ms. Hiromi Abe—Winner of the International Society for Neonatal Screening Best Presentation Award
Ms. Hiromi Abe, Head of the Health and Sanitation Division and Quality Control Manager at the accredited Health Inspection Laboratory of the Miyagi Prefectural Public Health Association, received the 2025 IJNS Best Presentation Award at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Neonatal Screening, held from 3 to 4 October 2025 in Nagoya, Japan. The award was sponsored by the International Journal of Neonatal Screening (IJNS, ISSN: 2409-515X). We had the pleasure of conducting a brief interview with her following the award.
1. Could you please introduce yourself?
After working as a clinical laboratory technologist at hospitals and testing centers, I joined the Miyagi Prefectural Public Health Association in 2012. Currently, I serve as the Head of the Health and Sanitation Division, which includes the Congenital Metabolic Disorder Screening Section responsible for newborn screening (NBS). I also serve as the Quality Control Manager of the registered health inspection laboratory.
2. Can you briefly introduce your experiences in newborn screening and tell us what inspired you to start a career in newborn screening?
I have been engaged in clinical laboratory work for over 25 years and have been working in the field of newborn screening (NBS) as a laboratory technologist and quality control manager for about four years. My involvement in NBS began when I was appointed as the Head of the Health and Sanitation Division.
3. What is the current status of newborn screening in Japan?
In addition to publicly funded NBS, expanded newborn screening programs for conditions such as PID, SMA, LSD, and ALD have been introduced nationwide.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Children and Families is conducting a demonstration project for SCID/SMA NBS, with expectations for future public funding. These expansions aim to improve infant survival and enhance their future quality of life.
However, due to the declining birth rate, the number of NBS testing facilities has been decreasing, as the number of test samples continues to fall. As a result, a single facility is often responsible for multiple municipalities, leading to greater operational complexity.
4. Could you please briefly introduce the main content of your winning presentation?
I presented on the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) initiatives implemented at our NBS laboratory.
Our goal is to establish a disaster-resilient laboratory. To achieve this, we review our daily operations while assessing disaster risks from various perspectives, identify the necessary countermeasures, and put them into practice.
5. Can you share any advice for young researchers who are just starting out in the newborn screening field?
NBS is the very first test conducted to protect a baby’s present and future health. It is a field with great potential for further development, so I sincerely hope more people will take an interest in it.
6. Do you have any suggestions for our journal regarding how we could further support young researchers and the academic community?
I am deeply honored to receive the IJNS Best Presentation Award 2025. Receiving such recognition helps maintain and enhance motivation, so I sincerely hope that many researchers will be given the opportunity to experience this kind of encouragement.