Dr Michiaki Takahashi 94th Birthday Today
Michiaki Takahashi
| BORN | February 17, 1928 Yuzato, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan |
| DIED | December 16, 2013 (aged 85) Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan |
| EDUCATION | Osaka University Baylor College of Medicine Temple University |
| Occupation | virologist |
| Institutions | Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University |
| Sub-specialties | Virology |
| Research | chickenpox |
| Notable works | Varicella vaccine |
| AWARDS | ➡️ Saburo Kojima Memorial Culture Award (1975) ➡️ VZVRF’s third Scientific Achievement Award (1997) ➡️ Prince Mahidol Award (2008) |
➡️ Professor Dr. Michiaki Takahashi developed a vaccine isolated from the vesicles of a typical case of chicken pox in a 3-year-old Japanese boy.
Named Oka after the boy, the vaccine was developed to prevent chicken pox in a process which is strictly adhered to the standard of the World Health Organisation , 17, 1928, in Osaka. He received his medical degree from Osaka University in 1954. Before his work on the chickenpox vaccine, he collaborated on mumps and rubella vaccines. He later served on the board of directors of the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University.
➡️ Today Doodle, illustrated by Tokyo, Japan-based guest artist Tatsuro Kiuchi, celebrates Japanese virologist Dr. Michiaki Takahashi, who developed the first vaccine against chickenpox. Takahashi’s vaccine has since been administered to millions of children around the world as an effective measure to prevent severe cases of the contagious viral disease and its transmission.
Michiaki Takahashi was born on this day in 1928 in Osaka, Japan. He earned his medical degree from Osaka University and joined the Research Institute for Microbial Disease, Osaka University in 1959. After studying measles and polio viruses, Dr Takahashi accepted a research fellowship in 1963 at Baylor College in the United States. It was during this time that his son developed a serious bout of chickenpox, leading him to turn his expertise toward combating the highly transmissible illness. Dr.Takahashi returned to Japan in 1965 and began culturing live but weakened chickenpox viruses in animal and human tissue. After just five short years of development, it was ready for clinical trials. In 1974, Dr. Takahashi had developed the first vaccine targeting the varicella virus that causes chickenpox. It was subsequently subjected to rigorous research with immunosuppressed patients and was proven to be extremely effective. In 1986, the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University began the rollout in Japan as the only varicella vaccine approved by the World Health Organization. Dr.Takahashi’s lifesaving vaccine was soon utilized in over 80 countries. In 1994, he was appointed the director of Osaka University’s Microbial Disease Study Group—a position he held until his retirement. Thanks to his innovations, millions of cases of chickenpox are prevented each year.
| LIFE |
| Born at Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan, on February 17, 1928, Takahashi earned his MD in 1954 from Osaka University’s Medical School, and completed in 1959 the Graduate Course of Medical Science, majoring in poxvirus virology. Between 1963 and 1965 he studied at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, and at the Fels Research Institute of Temple University, in Pennsylvania. The experience of watching his eldest son, Teruyuki, suffer from chickenpox while studying in the U.S. led him to begin development of a chickenpox vaccine in 1971. The research was extremely difficult, but was completed in 1973. In 1984, the vaccine was certified by the WHO as the most suitable chickenpox vaccine, and in 1986, the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare approved it for practical use in countries around the world. After retirement from Osaka University, he was given the title professor emeritus. |
| When did Dr Michiaki Takahashi make the chickenpox vaccine? |
| Japan. 2008 in Public Health Professor Takahashi developed a vaccine isolated from the vesicles of a typical case of chicken pox in a 3-year-old Japanese boy. Named Oka after the boy, the vaccine was developed to prevent chicken pox in a process which is strictly adhered to the standard of the World Health Organisation |
