Dr. Nakagawa is a Harvard-trained neurologist and neurointensivist known for his expertise in stroke and neurocritical care. He leads the Neuroscience Institute at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i and is also Division Chief of Neurology and Professor of Medicine at the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine, where he helps shape the next generation of neurology training. He is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Neurology and the American Heart Association.

Dr. Nakagawa earned his bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University before obtaining his medical degree from the University of Florida. He completed his neurology residency through the Harvard Neurology Residency Program at Mass General Brigham and subsequently completed a neurocritical care fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, rounding out a training path that bridges rigorous academic neuroscience with frontline critical care. His research focuses on three primary areas: mitochondrial PET imaging to predict coma recovery following severe traumatic brain injury, acute stroke systems of care, and ethnic disparities in stroke outcomes among Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander populations, work that has positioned him as a leading voice on health equity in stroke and brain injury care across the Pacific.

Dr. Nakagawa shares that his childhood experience and family history shaped his core values and his aspiration to become a physician leader addressing the unmet needs of rural communities affected by healthcare inequities. His late grandfather, raised in a rural village in Shizuoka, Japan, became the first scholar from that village to enter medical school. He began his career as a physician-scientist in academia conducting hemophilia research, then enlisted as a military physician stationed in China during World War II. Dr. Nakagawa's late grandmother, who was from Hiroshima, fortuitously escaped the tragedy of the atomic bomb because she had volunteered to serve abroad as a military nurse, where she met his grandfather in service. After the war, the two returned to his grandfather's roots to serve his community, founding the only clinic in the small rural town of Futamata near his home village in Shizuoka. Their clinic was attached to their home, where their children (Dr. Nakagawa's mother and uncle) grew up and went on to become MD-PhD physicians themselves. More than a decade after his grandfather's death, Dr. Nakagawa's mother, an academic pediatrician and a single mother of two, returned to Futamata to run the family clinic and meet the pediatric needs of the community.

Growing up in a house physically attached to the clinic, Dr. Nakagawa witnessed firsthand his mother's tireless dedication as the town's only pediatrician. This experience became the foundation of his mission, not only to serve rural communities but to become a "developer of the field" by building innovative, comprehensive academic and clinical programs tailored to community needs.

Co-founder of the Brain Health Applied Research Institute (B+HARI), Dr. Nakagawa integrates neuroscience with lifestyle interventions to promote brain health and recovery. This innovative work emphasizes non-medical approaches, such as art, design, and music, to enhance neuroplasticity and support brain function recovery after injury. His contributions have advanced both clinical practice and broader health interventions internationally, reflecting his commitment to translating brain health research into practical, real-world impact.