Nationality Japan Name Kanzen Teruya | Died 2004 | |
Known for Contributions to the medical world in Okinawa after the war and studies on Cycas Poisoning in Miyako (1956) | ||
Kanzen Teruya (1920–2004) was a physician who contributed much to the Okinawan medical world in postwar days. He reported a mass Cycas revoluta poisoning in people living in Miyakojima Island in 1956. He later became professor at the University of the Ryukyus (1978–1985).
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Life
Kanzen Teruya (照屋寛善) was born in January, 1920 in Shuri, Naha, Okinawa. He graduated from Kyushu Medical College, now the medical department of Kurume University in 1942. In the last days of the war, he worked as an army physician stationed in Southeast Asia. After repatriation, he went to Kurume and then Okinawa. In 1956, he became the head of Okinawa Health Institute. In November, 1956, he studied a mass Cycas revoluta poisoning, the first in the world, which occurred because of starvation. In 1961, the vice-president of the Health Department, Ryukyu Government. In 1963, he became the principal of Okinawa Nursing School. In 1973, he became the president of Okinawa Public Health Institute. In 1976, he became professor at the Department of Health, University of the Ryukyus, In 1981, professor at the Department of medicine, University of the Ryukyuus. In 1985, he retired from the university. In 1990, he became the head of Olive En Institute for the aged. In 2004, he died.