Hiroaki Mitsuya

Hiroaki Mitsuya (born 1950) is a Japanese virologist famous for his role in discovery of the anti-HIV drug zidovudine (AZT) as well as other anti-AIDS drugs including didanosine (ddI) and zalcitabine (ddC). Mitsuya obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. at Kumamoto University in Japan. He joined the American National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1982, working initially on human T cell leukemia virus type 1, before switching his attention to HIV. His identification of AZT as an anti-HIV drug, as well as the anti-HIV properties of ddI and ddC, was made in 1985. In December, 2006, he was awarded the first NIH World AIDS Day Award for his work in developing drugs for AIDS. Mitsuya has been chief of the NCI's Experimental Retrovirology Section since 1991.

References and Links

 * Page describing Dr. Mitsuya's research on NCI website
 * Yarchoan R, Mitsuya H, Broder S. AIDS therapies. Scientific American 1988;259(4):110-9