Tachi Yamada

Tachi Yamada (doctor, health bureaucrat)
Born	5 June 1945 Tokyo, Japan
Died	4 August 2021 (Age 76) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Nationality	US
Alma mater	Phillips Academy, Stanford University, New York University
Member of	Council on Foreign Relations/Members 3
Interests	• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • GlaxoSmithKline • United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases • Takeda • Clinton Health Access Initiative
Interest of	John Buse
Chairman of Research and Development and was a member of the Board of Directors at GlaxoSmithKline where he intimidated and silenced a researcher warning of a deadly drug. After that he become the President of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Also Chairman of the Board of the Clinton Health Access Initiative. Dates unknown Dates unknown

Tadataka "Tachi" Yamada was a Japanese-born American physician and gastroenterologist. Yamada served as Chairman of Research and Development and was a member of the Board of Directors at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) before becoming the President of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

At GSK, Yamada was responsible for intimidating and silencing scientist John Buse, who had warned of the deadly effects of the drug diabetes medicine Avandia: “I think there are two courses of action. One is to sue him for knowingly defaming our product even after we have set him straight as to the facts—the other is to launch a well-planned offensive on behalf of Avandia."

At the time of his death, he was a venture partner of Frazier Healthcare Partners, a venture capital company among other things owning healthcare providers in US prisons.

He was also Chairman of the Board of the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Early life and education

Yamada was born in Tokyo, a grandson of one of the first people of Japanese descent to be fully trained as an American physician, and completed his education in the United States. After attending Phillips Academy for his high school education, he graduated from Stanford University with a BA in history and obtained his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine training at the Medical College of Virginia.

He then became an investigator in the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases holding the rank of Major, U.S. Army Medical Corps.

Subsequently, he trained in gastroenterology at the UCLA School of Medicine and assumed his first faculty position there. He later moved to the University of Michigan where he headed the Gastroenterology Division and ultimately became Chairman, Department of Internal Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of the University of Michigan Medical Center before joining GlaxoSmithKline.

Career

Yamada served as Chairman of Research and Development and was a member of the Board of Directors at GlaxoSmithKline, where he was responsible for intimidating and silencing scientist John Buse.

He then joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he was President of the Global Health Program from 2005 to 2011. In this capacity he oversaw grants totaling over $9 billion in programs directed at applying technologies i.e. vaccines) to address major health challenges of the developing world including TB, HIV, malaria and other infectious diseases, malnutrition and maternal and child health.

Yamada was then Executive Vice-President and a Board Member of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and served as the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of the company.

At the time of his death, he was a venture partner of Frazier Healthcare Partners, a venture capital company among other things owning in healthcare providers in US prisons.

Among his many other activities he was a member of the Board of Directors of corporations across four continents and was a member of the Board of Agilent Technologies and chaired the Boards of Phathom Pharmaceuticals and Passage Bio, two companies for which he was a founder.

Yamada was also board chair of vaccine company Icosavax, a University of Washington spinout which he co-founded.

He was also a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Vice-Chair of the Council of the National Academy of Medicine (US), President of the Association of American Physicians and President of the American Gastroenterological Association. He was a member of the Board of the University of Michigan Health System and as Chairman of the Board of the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Honors

Yamada received an honorary appointment as Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

He was a fellow of the Imperial College London, a Master of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians; and gave the last centenary lecture at Imperial College London in March 2008, which was chaired by Sir Richard Sykes.

He was also the recipient of numerous awards, including the Smith Kline & French Award in Gastrointestinal Physiology from the American Physiological Society, the Julius Friedenwald Medal from the American Gastroenterological Association, the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the University of Michigan, the Distinguished Medical Scientist Award from the Medical College of Virginia and the August M. Watanabe Prize in Translational Research from the Indiana University School of Medicine.

He was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Michigan, University of East Anglia, the University of Warwick, Washington College, and Loyola University of Chicago.

In recognition of his contributions to medicine and science he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine (US) and the National Academy of Medicine (Mexico) and to Fellowship in the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Yamada was conferred the title Honorary Citizen of Singapore in 2016; and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Stars, from the Japanese Government.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
WEF/Annual Meeting/2011	26 January 2011	30 January 2011	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2229 guests in Davos, with the theme: "Shared Norms for the New Reality".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2012	25 January 2012	29 January 2012	Switzerland	2113 guests in Davos
WEF/Annual Meeting/2013	23 January 2013	27 January 2013	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2500 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2014	22 January 2014	25 January 2014	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2604 guests in Davos considered "Reshaping The World"

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