Dr. Hiroaki Mitsuya obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. in Kumamoto University School of Medicine in Japan. After receiving immunology/hematology/oncology training at Kumamoto University Hospital, Dr. Mitsuya joined the National Cancer Institute in 1982 and began studying the outcome of infection by human T cell leukemia virus type 1, the first known human pathogenic retrovirus. In 1984, Dr. Mitsuya steered his attention to human immunodeficiency virus or HIV and played a critical role in the discovery and development of the first three drugs for AIDS and HIV infection [zidovudine (AZT), didanosine (ddI), and zalcitabine (ddC)]. Dr. Mitsuya has since been a leading researcher in the area of development of AIDS therapeutics and study of HIV resistance. Recently he has played a major role in the discovery and development of the next generation anti-HIV drug, darunavir.
Dr. Mitsuya has been Chief, Experimental Retrovirology Section, NCI, USA since 1991; and Chairman and Professor, Departments of Hematology and Rheumatology, and Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Kumamoto, Japan since 1997. Dr. Mitsuya has also assumed a position of Director-General in the International Center for Clinical Research, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan since January 2012.
