Shigekoto Kaihara, MD *

Professor Kaihara received his M.D. degree and doctorate in science from the Tokyo University School of Medicine, and came to the states as a research associate at Johns Hopkins. Returning to his homeland as a staff physician in Internal Medicine at the University of Tokyo Hospital, he directed a project to apply information technology to clinical systems. He was appointed Professor and Director of the Hospital Computer Center in 1983. He has been extremely active in promoting medical informatics on an international basis, serving as director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Medical Informatics, President of the Japan Society for Medical Informatics, and as President of the International Medical Informatics Association. He was instrumental in forming the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics. In addition to all of this, he served as director of the medical library of the University of Tokyo, and in 1996 was named Director of National Okura Hospital. His election as an International Associate of the College recognizes these achievements that have had an international scope and impact.