Hiroaki Mitsuya

Who is Hiroaki Mitsuya?

Hiroaki Mitsuya is a Japanese virologist famous for his role in discovery of the anti-HIV drug zidovudine as well as other anti-AIDS drugs including didanosine and zalcitabine. Mitsuya obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. at Kumamoto University in Japan. He joined the American National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1982, working initially on human T cell leukemia virus type 1, before switching his attention to HIV. His identification of AZT as an anti-HIV drug, as well as the anti-HIV properties of didanosine and zalcitabine, was made in 1985. In December, 2006, he was awarded the first NIH World AIDS Day Award for his work in developing drugs for AIDS. Mitsuya has been chief of the NCI's Experimental Retrovirology Section since 1991.