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TI: Well, so much for the vacations and trips. Continued with my work and presenting papers. I was able to join a number of surgical societies, and these societies, membership, it was by invitation only. And I first joined the Portland Surgical Society, which was composed of the general surgeons, and I joined in 1959 and later served as its president in 1986. The same year, I joined the American College of Surgeons, as by then, I had passed my boards in general surgery conducted by the American Board of Surgery. That was in 1957, and then in 1983, the Vascular Surgery Board was established, and so I passed that when it was first started in 1983. When I joined the North Pacific Surgical Society, that was back in 1966, I was the first Japanese to join this group. It is one of the oldest surgical society in the United States even though it is located in the Northwest. It was formed in 1912, and I have been a member since. Next, I joined the Pacific Coast Surgical Society in 1969, and again, I was the first Japanese to join this group and have been a member since. Subsequently, I have been, become member of the Western Surgical Association which is a general surgery society. In 1976, I joined the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery. This is a national organization with membership of 1000 to 1,200. I was elected the president of the society in 1991 and gave a presidential address at the meeting in Kauai that year. In 1978, I joined the Society for Vascular Surgery. This society is probably the most prestigious organization in our field. It was formed back in 1944, and the membership is limited to professors of medical schools, and membership is limited to about 150 people. Because I was involved in early development of the field of vascular surgery, I and the professor at the University of Oregon co-founded the Pacific Northwest Vascular Society, and I was the president of that society for the first three years, and this is now well-organized in the large society here in the Northwest. In 1991, Western Vascular Society was formed, and I was one of the founding members.

In 1972, because of the volume of vascular surgery that I was doing, a number of people suggested that I form a fellowship which means the teaching of vascular surgery specifically. So I elected to do this and started the training, one vascular fellow every year. To qualify to become a vascular surgeon, one had to finish a complete residency in general surgery which was at this time now five to six years of general surgery. Then this was followed by one year of vascular surgery. Our fellowship was at Saint Vincent's Hospital, and I was the director, and the fellowship was approved and certified so that the people who came out of the program were certified to become vascular surgeons. This program was continued for twenty years, and I have graduated twenty vascular surgeons. The program attracted candidates from many areas of course throughout the entire United States, but also from overseas. I had graduates come from Honduras, from Australia, from Ireland, and these people are now back in their countries and are holding academic positions. The fellow who came from Australia became the professor and head of the department at Penn State University.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.