He received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard Medical School in 2007, having studied the origin of life and molecular evolution with Dr. Jack Szostak. Dr. Ichida completed his postdoctoral work with Dr. Kevin Eggan at Harvard University where he was awarded an NIH K99 Pathway to Independence award and a New York Stem Cell Foundation Druckenmiller Fellowship for his work on cellular reprogramming. After joining the faculty at USC in 2013, Dr. Ichida received awards from the Baxter Foundation and Rainwater Charitable Foundation.