This Article Free upon publication Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shimokawa, H. Articles by Heistad, D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Shimokawa, H. Articles by Heistad, D.

(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2009;29:787.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

In Memoriam

Akira Takeshita, MD, PhD

1940–2009

Hiroaki Shimokawa; Donald Heistad

From the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine (H.S.), Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan; and the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology (D.H.), University of Iowa, Iowa City.

Correspondence to Hiroaki Shimokawa, MD, PhD, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan. E-mail shimo@cardio.med.tohoku.ac.jp

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no 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 1968, where he completed his residency in internal medicine. In 1970, he was appointed a Cardiology fellow in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa, where he spent three years. He started his research on neural control of the cardiovascular system, with guidance from Drs Allyn L. Mark and Francois M. Abboud. Dr Takeshita returned to Japan in 1973 to continue his research at Kyushu University, where he received his . . . [Full Text of this Article]