was a Japanese professor of dermatology resident in the United States, who pioneered research in skin disease using

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

and

histochemistry Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the most common application of immunostaining. It involves the process of selectively identifying antigens (proteins) in cells of a tissue section by exploiting the principle of antibodies binding specifically to ant ...

. He was born and brought up in

Niigata City may refer to: * Niigata Prefecture, Japan **Niigata (city), the capital of the prefecture * Albirex Niigata, the city's professional football club * Niigata Transys, a Japanese railway vehicle manufacturer * Niigata Stadium, an athletic stadium in ...

, Japan, where his father was professor and dean of the Niigata University School of Medicine. After graduating in medicine, he moved to the United States in 1956, and completed his training in dermatology at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

and

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

. He is best remembered for his skill in using the electron microscope and histochemistry to determine the

pathogenesis Pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes from Greek πάθος ''pat ...

of Anderson-Fabry's Disease. His name is connected with two rare skin conditions, congenital self-healing reticulohistiocytosis and the blistering transient bullous dermolysis of the newborn. In 1980, he was appointed to

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

as professor. Many future dermatologists were trained by him and he wrote numerous articles, book chapters and books.

Early life

Hashimoto was born on 19 June 1931, and grew up in

, Japan. His father was professor and chair of dermatology, dean of the Niigata University School of Medicine, and president of the university, where Hashimoto also graduated in medicine. His brother also became a dermatologist.

Career

In 1956, Hashimoto moved to the United States. He was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and did his residencies in dermatology at the

and

Research with electron microscope

In 1965, he wrote his classic paper on the pathogenesis of Anderson-Fabry's disease where he demonstrated the use of an electron microscope to look at

endothelial cells The endothelium is a single layer of squamous endothelial cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. The endothelium forms an interface between circulating blood or lymph in the lumen and the rest of the vessel ...

smooth muscle cells Smooth muscle is an involuntary non-striated muscle, so-called because it has no sarcomeres and therefore no striations (''bands'' or ''stripes''). It is divided into two subgroups, single-unit and multiunit smooth muscle. Within single-unit mus ...

fibrocyte A fibrocyte is an inactive mesenchymal cell, that is, a cell showing minimal cytoplasm, limited amounts of rough endoplasmic reticulum and lacks biochemical evidence of protein synthesis. The term ''fibrocyte'' contrasts with the term ''fibrobl ...

s and perivascular cells in people with Fabry disease, a lethal "metabolic disease angikeratoma corporis diffusum". He confirmed the presence of large bodies in these cells which he described as “large residual bodies” or "extremely overcrowded lysosomes", and determined that a genetic abnormality caused a disturbance of lysosomal enzymes. Congenital self-healing reticulohistiocytosis is also known as Hashimoto-Pritzker disease, first described by Hashimoto and Pritzker in 1973. In addition, Transient bullous dermolysis of the newborn is named after Hashimoto who first described this condition with characteristic blister formations soon after birth, followed by rapid healing with or without scarring, in 1985.

Wayne State University

He was appointed professor and chairman at Wayne State University in 1980, following faculty appointments at the University of Tennessee and Tufts University, and a position as chair of dermatology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Teaching and education

Hashimoto taught over one hundred resident physicians and forty research fellows. He encouraged many researchers to work at his laboratory, of whom 15 rose to professorship in dermatology or anatomy in Japan. In addition, he was supportive in alleviating the anxieties of Japanese dermatology students who travelled to the United States to study. He published 384 papers, just under 40 book chapters and eight books during his career, including one in Japanese, the ''Histopathology of Skin Disease'', the fifth volume of which remained unfinished at the time of his death. Together with his wife Noriko, he established the Hashimoto and Noriko Hashimoto Endowed Chair in the Department of Dermatology and Syphilology in 2007.

Personal and family

Hashimoto was married to Noriko and they had four children, Naomi, Martha, Eugene and Amy. Throughout his time in Memphis, Tennessee, Hashimoto enjoyed fishing and his motorboat, which he would drive to local rivers and lakes for an annual trip to the Gulf of Mexico. He also liked gardening and planting fruit trees. His other hobbies included farming and later feeding several types of birds in his backyard, including ducks, pheasants and peafowl. In addition, he used some of his retirement to travel frequently to Japan.

Death and legacy

For many years Hashimoto suffered from recurrent falls and aspiration due to Parkinson's Disease.Ken Hashimoto.
Michael J. Fox Foundation. Retrieved 10 August 2018. Hashimoto died on 9 November 2017, at the age of 86 years, at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was survived by his wife, two sisters, one brother, four children and nine grandchildren.

Selected publications

Books

* ''Skin Pathology by Light and Electron Microscopy''. Igaku-Shoin, New York, 1983. (With Kan Niizuma)
''Tumors of Skin Appendages''
Butterworths, 1987. (With Amir H. Mehregan and Masanobu Kumakiri) * ''Tumors of the Epidermis''. Butterworths, c.1990. (With Amir H. Mehregan)

Book chapters

"Immunohistochemical Diagnosis of Skin Tumors"
with M. Setoyama and E. Hashimoto, in Randall K. Roenigk & Henry H. Roenigk Jr. (Eds.) ''Surgical Dermatology: Advances in Current Practice''. Martin Dunitz, London, 1993. pp. 131–138. .

Articles

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hashimoto, Ken 1931 births 2017 deaths Japanese dermatologists Wayne State University faculty Japanese emigrants to the United States Wright State University faculty Tufts University School of Medicine faculty People from Niigata (city) Fulbright alumni