Professor Tanaka led the development of Living Donor Liver Transplantation (LDLT) in Japan as Head of the Kyoto University Liver Transplant Service. He is responsible for making this operation a success. He has contributed voluminously to medical literature on LDLT. More importantly he has trained many surgeons both in and out of Japan. He had developed LDLT centres out of Japan in Cairo, Jeddah, Alexandria and Singapore.

Prof. Tanaka’s success has been due to his emphasis on technical perfection as well his immense depth of thought and understanding of all the issues involved in LDLT. Secondly his humility and his willingness to teach and help surgeons and patients all over the world makes him a truly respectable gentleman.

His illustrious career is as follows :

From 1995 to 2000 he was Professor and Director, Department of Transplantation and Immunology, Kyoto University Hospital.

From 2001 to 2005 he served as Hospital Director of Kyoto University Hospital

In 2005 April, he was made Emeritus Professor at Kyoto University

At the same time he became President, Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation

Currently he has set up and leads the Living Donor Liver Transplant Service at Kobe City General Hospital.

He serves on the committee of, The Transplantation Society Council, the European Society of Organ Transplantation, the Pacific Association of Pediatrics Surgeons, the Japanese Surgical Society, the Japanese Society of Pediatric Surgeons and the Japanese Society of Transplantation. He is the Co-Editor of Pediatric Transplantation, Liver Transplantation and the American Journal of Transplantation.