Akira Takeshita, MD, PhD

Abstract

Akira Takeshita, MD, PhD, 69, Professor Emeritus of Cardiovascular Medicine and Director Emeritus of the Institute of Angiocardiology, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan, died on March 15, 2009 after a long illness. Dr Takeshita was an internationally recognized leader in cardiovascular medicine. His research focused on neural regulation and vascular biology. Dr Takeshita was born on January 24, 1940. He earned his MD degree from Kyushu University School of Medicine in 1965. His unique and international career started immediately after his graduation when, unlike many other Japanese physicians, especially at that time, he moved to the Tachikawa U.S. Air Force Hospital near Tokyo, where he was an intern and resident. He met Makiko, who was performing her externship in anesthesiology at the Hospital, and they married in 1968. They helped each other as the best partners in life and also as medical professionals, for 41 years until his death. In 1967, Dr Takeshita returned to Kyushu University where he trained in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. He then moved to Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, in …