Henry Ichiro Yamamura (1940–2008)

Abstract

Presents an obituary of Henry Ichiro Yamamura (1940–2008). On 4 September 2008 Henry (Hank) Yamamura died peacefully at his home in Tucson, Arizona after a battle of almost 2 years with lung cancer. Hank handled his final illness with the same grace and good humor that characterized his entire life. He is survived by his wife Susan and his son Mark, a surgeon who lives in Hawaii. Hank was a pioneer and one of the country’s leaders in molecular studies of neurotransmitter receptors. His doctoral research with Akira Horita at the University of Washington dealt with classical receptor pharmacology but with a spin. Hank elucidated muscarinic interactions of many classes of drugs, clarifying important clinical phenomena. For instance, he showed that extrapyramidal adverse effects of neuroleptics could be explained by their relative anticholinergic effects. He characterized the muscarinic receptor activity of numerous antidepressants, discovering a relationship to therapeutic efficacy. For many years a major portion of Hank’s effort involved elucidating opiate receptor subtypes and how their differential linkage to G proteins impacts their analgesic interactions. Besides his important research activities, Hank was a beloved teacher and mentor. His many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows over the years uniformly attest to his good-natured and patient demeanor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)