Immunology Professor Akihiko Yoshimura Awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon

Professor Akihiko Yoshimura, my professor from my days in the Kyushu University immunology department, is now a professor at Keio University.
News of this Medal with Purple Ribbon set the alumni email list buzzing. Congratulations.

The Medal with Purple Ribbon is
awarded to people who have made inventions or discoveries in science and technology, or achieved outstanding results in academia, sports, and the arts and culture

, I am told.
From the Cabinet Office website
https://www8.cao.go.jp/shokun/shurui-juyotaisho-hosho.html

Professor Akihiko Yoshimura of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in autumn 2021
(Keio University website)
http://www.med.keio.ac.jp/news/2021/11/2/5-83629/index.html

—
On a personal note,
near the end of my residency in ophthalmology at Kyushu University, I decided to specialize in uveitis,
and thought I would study the basics of immunology in graduate school
→ I went to hear from people at a place with “immunology” in its name
→ and met Professor Akihiko Yoshimura for the first time.

After that, joining the immunology laboratory at the Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, turned out to be very hard,
and I spent my days doing research from morning until midnight.
14 hours a day, 7 days a week—

what life was like, I recall through the writing of
my senior colleague in Kyushu University internal medicine, Dr. Takatoshi Chinen:
My Laboratory – Introduction to the Yoshimura Lab

As we all studied hard together, immunology became fun,
and I even got the chance to go to the United States..

As an ophthalmologist, it was quite a detour. During that time, my own way of thinking about immunology soaked in.
After many twists and turns, I am very happy every day to be able to do the work I do now.

He is a professor who responds precisely and with astonishing speed, even to each student’s difficult problems.
I feel I learned many important things during my immunology research as well.

The members of the “former Kyushu University Yoshimura Lab Hakata Group” plan to celebrate quietly with him.