In Memorium: Dr. Nobuyuki Tanaka

Nobuyuki Tanaka
-Skillful surgeon, fervent reasoner, unfailing patients’ advocate-

1937 – 2006

Nobuyuki Tanaka,  Shuichiro Sugamura, Chawalit Ongcharit, Juro Wada, Gentscho Nachev, Kiyoshi Fujimoto and Hiroshi Yoshimatsu at the First Annual Meeting of the International Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons in Tokyo on July 30, 1988

Those who have attended a WSCTS Japan Chapter meeting will most probably remember Nobuyuki Tanaka. His passionate questions could puzzle young colleagues and bewilder those in charge of keeping schedules.

Born on Honju, remarkably he started to study medicine on the northern second largest island of the Japanese Archipelago, despite of the widespread fear of a Soviet invasion in those cold war days and the perception that this was not the place to achieve meritorious citations.  His decision proved wise, however, as shortly after graduating from Hokkaido University in March 1964 he found an excellent teacher at the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the present Sapporo Medical University who soon noticed Nobuyuki Tanaka’s prodigious talents.  This mentor, Juro Wada, arranged for him further training in the United States where he spent three years in total at the Texas Heart Institute, the UCLA, and the Cleveland Clinic. 

Nobuyuki Tanaka obtained his doctorate in Medicine in 1963 and was appointed Assistant Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgery at Sapporo Medical College in 1967.  In 1968 he was on Juro Wada’s surgical team that carried out the first heart transplant in Japan.

Later the university became too narrow for him and he chose to work as Head of the Cardiac Surgery Department of Sakae Kyosai Hospital and made this Department one of the finest in Japan. 
After his retirement there, he was appointed President of the Chubu Hospital.  His interest in the upbringing of the next generation of health care professionals also manifested itself also in his services as Chairman of the Board of Osaka Butsuryo Technical Academy.

I had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Tanaka for nearly 25 years.  He was an energetic teacher and a caring surgeon, spending many nights in the hospital.  Retrograde perfusion and emergency coronary revascularization were his special interests on which he published multiple articles. 

When Juro Wada founded the International Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons in 1988, he was immediately involved.  Nobuyuki Tanaka served as Editor of the WSCTS NewsLetter till his much too early death.

His life shall be an inspiration for the upcoming surgical generation.

Wolfgang R. Ade, MD, FCTS
Wada Juro Commemorative Heart and Lung Institute
Tokyo, Japan