was a Japanese

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, prominent

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, and

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology— a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

researcher. He discovered the Weil's disease pathogen. In addition to his life's work in early 20th-century Japanese medical education, he was a pioneer in Japanese clinical

cardiology Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery di ...

and

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

Early life

Inada was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

and graduated from

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

in medicine before travelling abroad for medical studies in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Career

Returning to Japan from Europe, Inada became the first professor of medicine at of the , now

Kyushu University , abbreviated to , is a public research university located in Fukuoka, Japan, on the island of Kyushu. Founded in 1911 as the fourth Imperial University in Japan, it has been recognised as a leading institution of higher education and resear ...

, School of Medicine. In 1914–1915, Inada discovered the

spirochete A spirochaete () or spirochete is a member of the phylum Spirochaetota (also called Spirochaetes ), which contains distinctive diderm (double-membrane) Gram-negative bacteria, most of which have long, helically coiled (corkscrew-shaped or ...

bacteria that causes infectious jaundice (Weil's disease) and developed a successful

antiserum In immunology, antiserum is a blood serum containing antibodies (either monoclonal or polyclonal) that is used to spread passive immunity to many diseases via blood donation ( plasmapheresis). For example, convalescent serum, or passive ant ...

treatment for the infection. He is credited with ground-breaking research on the Weil's disease pathogen, ''

Leptospira ''Leptospira'' () is a genus of spirochaete bacteria, including a small number of pathogenic and saprophytic species. ''Leptospira'' was first observed in 1907 in kidney tissue slices of a leptospirosis victim who was described as having died ...

''. The initial specimen material (stock of Ictero No.1) which Dr. Inada isolated in 1914 has been preserved as a significant artifact in the history of medicine. In 1915, Inaba described the pathogen in a series of papers titled covering content ranging from the discovery of the pathogen, to contagion sources, clinical medicine, pathology, diagnosis, and cure. Professor Inada was the first in Japan to import an electrocardiograph and, along with medical school colleagues, was amongst the first to use this device clinically in Japan. He was a prominent Japanese

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''� ...

as well, serving as Vice President of the Japanese Society of Oncological Research from 1919 until his death in 1950. In 1920 he was installed as professor of medicine at the . In 1928, he reported the first cases of

ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with the other type being Crohn's disease. It is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary sympto ...

in Japan, ten cases collated over ten years. In 1943, he was named the President of the Japanese Medical Association and the President of the Japan Medical Treatment Corporation. In 1919, Inada and his co-worker Yutaka Ido were nominated by Louis Martin of Pasteur Institute, Paris for the

Nobel Prize in Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...

for their 1915 discovery.

Honors

He was awarded the . The ''Maidashi'' campus of

has commemorated Dr. Inada's contributions to the institution by naming one of the campus streets ''

Inada dōri was a Japanese physician, prominent academic, and bacteriologist researcher. He discovered the Weil's disease pathogen. In addition to his life's work in early 20th-century Japanese medical education, he was a pioneer in Japanese clinical cardi ...

.''

Citations

References

* Kobayashi, Y
"Discovery of the causative organism of Weil's disease: historical view,"
''Journal of Infectious Chemotherapy.'' Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 10–15 (2001 March).

Gallery

File:Inada dori.jpg, ''Inada dōri'' File:Faculty of Medicine Bldg. A of Basic Science.jpg, ''Kyushu'' Imperial University internal medicine laboratory File:Inada Ryukichi.jpg, grave {{DEFAULTSORT:Inaba, Ryukichi 1874 births 1950 deaths Japanese oncologists Japanese microbiologists People of the Meiji era Scientists from Nagoya Recipients of the Order of Culture University of Tokyo alumni Academic staff of Kyushu University Japanese cardiologists Japanese bacteriologists