Ms. Itoh joined JCIE Japan in 1988. In her current position as executive director, her responsibilities include strategic planning, program development, public relations, and fundraising.

Ms. Itoh leads JCIE’s wide range of global health programs and other initiatives on global issues, including a program on democratic governance. She has extensive networks and experience working closely with various actors in the public health and global health community and in the philanthropic sector in Japan. She also serves as director of the Friends of the Global Fund, Japan (FGFJ), with which she has been involved since its inception in 2004. In 2020–2021, Ms. Itoh was also responsible for JCIE’s role as the sole Japanese partner for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, raising more than $8.9 million from Japanese donors in support of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Itoh serves as a member of the committee on Japan’s global engagement in health and medicine under the Cabinet Secretariat of the Japanese government. She previously served as a member of the Task Force on Global Health Strategy organized by the Cabinet Secretariat and contributed to the formation of Japan’s Global Health Strategy, which was enacted in 2023.

In 1997–2004, Ms. Itoh operated the Levi Strauss Foundation’s Donor Advised Fund, which provided funds to Japanese nonprofit organizations for activities tackling social justice issues, including HIV/AIDS, migration, and domestic violence. She has since helped launch and facilitate a number of other corporate giving programs, encouraging the Japanese private sector to become actively engaged in achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and promoting health equity in low- and middle-income countries.

Ms. Itoh holds a BA from Keio University and an MA in area studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.