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The HLA and transplantation history books

Those two books of history of the HLA1 and history of transplantation2, today I believe are very valuable because many of the people are no longer with us. And it’s really good that I did that when I did. But, also, I don’t know if you read the preface. The preface, I said, this is a “Rashomon” history, which means that everybody gives his own version. And I wanted to do that. I said, “Okay, I don’t know if you’re going to give the history in the correct way, but it’s okay. Tell us what you think was the history.” [That] is the way I did it.

And I think it was very nice that each person gave history from his viewpoint. And also, mostly, as you see reading the books that it’s more his own contribution, which is okay because the reader can then put this together and then sort of see what is the history. Also, I think it’s a very important source book for our future story because this is what this person said. And I was impressed that there were not a lot of conflicts. In other words, two people claiming to have done the same thing. Also, you see, if you read the books, that there was a lot of interchange—that in science we have young people that go from one lab to another. It’s like pollinating in the different places. That’s very obvious in this book, where you can see how people that you didn’t know were connected are connected by these young post-docs.

1. HLA is the acronym for human leukocyte antigen, a genetic maker found on cells of the body that determine white blood cell types. The HLA system is used to assess tissue compatibility for organ transplantation and platelet transfusion. There are over ten thousand HLA types.

2. P.I. Terasaki, ed., 1990, History of HLA. Ten Recollections, Los Angeles: UCLA Tissue Typing Laboratory; Paul I. Terasaki, ed., 1991, History of transplantation: Thirty-five Recollections, Los Angeles: UCLA Tissue Typing Laboratory.


medicine

Date: February 10, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Gwenn M. Jensen

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Paul Terasaki, born in 1929, is a UCLA Medical Professor Emeritus and a pioneer in tissue transfer research who continues to speak globally on tissue typing and organ transplantation. In 1991 he edited a volume entitled History of Transplantation: Thirty-five Recollections.

He and his wife Hisako, a renowned painter, take a strong interest in U.S.-Japan relations and the affairs of the Japanese American community. Together they established an endowment at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center to fund fellowships for UCLA graduate students from Japan pursuing research on the historical and contemporary experiences and issues of the Japanese American population. Additionally, a Paul I. Terasaki Endowed Chair in U.S.-Japan Relations supports a distinguished teaching program designed to bring experts in the field of Japanese studies and U.S.-Japan relations to UCLA. (February 10, 2004)

Toshio Inahara
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