Kosuke ("Ko") Niitsu is a PhD candidate at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing in Omaha, Nebraska. He is conducting his dissertation research titled "Genetic Influence on Resilience to Potentially Traumatic Events". When the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster occurred, he realized some individuals are more vulnerable to develop psychopathology, such as PTSD, whereas others are less adversely affected, who are often described as "resilient". Because the positive aspects of stress and trauma, such as resilience, have not been well understood, he is investigating what contributes to individual differences inresilience to potentially traumatic events. His current approach incorporates genotyping of selected resilience-related polymorphisms to better understand biobehavioral contributions to resilience. Based on his findings, he would like not only to address mental illness but also to actively promote psychological well-being by applying genetic advances to individualize diagnostics and therapeutic interventions.