The Clinical Chemist: Masahide Sasaki, MD, PhD (August 27, 1933–September 23, 2005)

In the 1980s, long before clinical laboratories in the United States were faced with the challenges of consolidation, Masahide Sasaki, MD, PhD, and his associates were inventing what was to become the greatest revolution in clinical laboratory technology since the autoanalyzer. Masahide Sasaki is credited with being the father of modern clinical laboratory automation, a technology that has been installed in laboratories throughout the world.

Sadly, Masahide Sasaki passed away on September 23, 2005, after a valiant fight against cancer. He is survived by his devoted wife Toyoko and his children Mika, Kyoko, and Masanori.

Masahide was born in 1933 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from Yamaguchi Medical School in 1961. During 1965, he served as an internist for the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Casualty Committee. Several years later, in 1967, he was appointed the Chief of the Clinical Chemistry Department at Kawasaki Hospital. In 1970, he did a fellowship in the United States at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, IL, which gave him exposure to the US medical system. Two years later he became an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at Kawasaki Medical School and rose quickly in the academic ranks to become a Full Professor of Laboratory Diagnosis in 1976 and, ultimately, Vice President of Kawasaki Paramedical College.

Masahide’s inspiration to automate the clinical laboratory began in 1981 when he was appointed Professor and Director of the Department of the Clinical Laboratory at Kochi Medical School, Kochi, Japan. Leading a team of medical technologists who he trained to assemble conveyor belts and electronic boards and to program robots, he created what was the world’s first automated laboratory. Masahide teamed up with major industrial partners, and his ideas were translated into commercial products that reached clinical laboratories throughout Japan. Masahide and his collaborators published many papers describing their technologic achievements during the period from 1981 to 1999. The most notable publication was a monograph and primer on laboratory automation sponsored by A&T Corporation, Yokohama, Japan.

Masahide first lectured outside Japan when he spoke on clinical laboratory automation to a standing-room only audience of 900 people at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry in Atlanta, GA, in July 1989. His 45-min movie demonstrated to the spellbound audience new possibilities for error reduction, cost containment, and unprecedented turnaround times. This event initiated the revolution of laboratory automation in the Western Hemisphere. Masahide served on the scientific committee for the Association for Laboratory Automation from 1998 until 2003. In 2001, the Association for Laboratory Automation presented Masahide his first international award, recognizing his contributions to clinical laboratory automation. Masahide presented numerous lectures in Europe and the United States until his retirement in 2003.

Masahide founded the Cherry Blossom Symposium, a conference that brought together the leading international figures and companies in the laboratory automation field to explore technologic developments as well as to sample some of the best Asian food and culture. Masahide presided over the first Cherry Blossom Symposium in Kochi, Japan, in 1998, with his colleagues Dr. Jun Imamura, Dr. Kyoko Takeda, Mr. Masaaki Nishida, and Mr. Katsumi Ogura.

Masahide was known as a prolific and inventive creator who was always willing to teach, inspire, and elevate those around him to new levels of achievement. He will be long remembered for his boundless enthusiasm, sense of humor, and legendary hospitality as a host to visitors to Kochi, Japan, and later Yamaguchi, Japan, where he retired. His infectious personality and vision created lasting friendships and followers who will miss him and his contributions to clinical laboratories.

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Figure 1.

Dr. Masahide Sasaki

• © 2006 The American Association for Clinical Chemistry