Obituary of Professor Fumimaro Takaku: a tribute to a real leader in medicine in Japan (1931–2022)

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Professor Fumimaro Takaku passed away on the 24th of March 2022, at the age of 91. He greatly contributed not only to the field of hematology, but also to medical sciences in general as well as medical administration in Japan. He graduated from University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine in 1954. He studied hematology at the Third Department of Internal Medicine in the University of Tokyo Hospital, and also studied at the University of Chicago collaborating with Dr. Eugene Goldwasser from 1962 to 1963. Professor Takaku played an important role in the establishment of Jichi Medical University as a professor of medicine. After a 10-year professorship at Jichi Medical University, he was appointed as a professor of the Third Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Tokyo Hospital in 1982, and then as the Dean of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine in 1988. After that, Professor Takaku was appointed as President of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine (1990–1996), President of Jichi Medical University (1996–2012), and chairperson of the Japan Association for Development of Community Medicine (2012–). He also contributed greatly to The Japanese Society of Hematology. …