Professor Sawabata has been studying as a thoracic surgeon and has made the study of isolated cancer cells his life's work. He was the first in the world to show that there are cases in which a margin local recurrence occurs even if the margin malignant is pathologically negative in subrober lung resection, and the predictor is "stump cytology malignant positive". In addition, as a P.I. of a multicenter prospective study, they proved that "tumor margin distance > tumor size" is an indicator of negative marginal cytology malignancy, spurring the clinical research on sublober lung resection for early-stage lung cancer. He is also actively researching "circulating tumor cells" (CTCs), which are one of the isolated cancer cells, and has shown that clustered CTCs are  predictoers of 1) tumor grade , 2) poor prognosis, and 3) treatment efficacy. "Slashing invisible cancer" is his motto in practice.

Professor, Nara Medical University (2017-present)Chair Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Nara Medical University Hospital (2017- present)

Director Respiratory Center, Chair Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Hoshigaoka Medical Center, Japan Community Hospital Organization (JCHO) (2014-2017)Professor, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine (2014-2017)Associate Professor, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine (2008-2014)Associate Professor, Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine (2006-2008)Assistant Professor, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine (2005-2006)Staff Surgeon, Toneyama National Hospital (1998- 2005)Staff Surgeon, National Kinki-Chuo Hospital (1995-1998)Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow, Nara Medical Unoversity Hospital (1991-1995)General Surgery Residency, Okinawa Kyodo Hospital (1990-0991)General Surgery Residency, Ishinkai Yao Hospital (1989-1990)General Surgery Residency, Nara medical University Hospital (1988-1989)Nara Medical University (M.D.1988)