The Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Society (HNMS) held a ceremony on May 21, 2018 at The Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York to honor the life and legacy of the Japanese scientist. Born in Fukushima, in 1876, Noguchi achieved success as a scientist despite coming from a rural village and handicapped by a fire.  The Rockefeller Institute supported his research for yellow fever.  Dr. Noguchi succumbed to the disease he fought tirelessly to cure while working in Africa in 1928.

Reiichiro Takahashi, Ambassador and Consul General of Japan in New York, Sunichi Homma, MD the Margaret Milliken Hatch Professor at Columbia University and President of HNMS, Timothy O’Connor, Ph.D. Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff, Rockefeller University spoke about significance of Dr. Noguchi’s legacy.

President of JMSA, Robert T. Yanagisawa, MD, Professor of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, read messages from President Yasuo Yago of Noguchi Hideo Memorial Foundation in Japan that Japan’s Cabinet Office highlighting our efforts in restoring Dr. Noguchi’s grave at Woodlawn Cemetery, in March issue of Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Newsletter.  He also noted Teizo Fujita, M.D. Director of HNMS Japan Branch was a keynote speaker in Ghana commemorating Dr. Noguchi’s legacy in Africa.

HNMS was established in 2013 to strengthen U.S. – Japan relations and to inspire and support children from both sides of the Pacific to study medicine. We also offer a scholarship award each year to a young scientist in life science that upholds the principle that guided Dr. Hideo Noguchi- “Through devotion to science, he lived and died for humanity.”  The Noguchi Memorial at The Woodlawn Cemetery was restored in 2008 by JMSA and is visited by hundreds annually.