By Takehiko Takagi, MD, PhD

About 20 years ago, during one summer vacation as a medical student in Japan, I visited Dr. Arnold-Peter Weiss at Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence, RI, and took part in the clinical clerkship to learn the basics of hand surgery. This marked the beginning of my career as a hand surgeon.

After I returned to Japan, I obtained a medical doctorate. As an orthopedic surgeon, I treated many patients with traumas and degenerative disorders and have acquired operation skills. In addition, I obtained a PhD after engaging in peripheral nerve research in graduate school.

During that time, I reunited with Dr. Weiss at the ASSH meeting. It had been nearly 10 years since I last saw him. He wrote me a strong recommendation letter for the Christine M. Kleinert Institute for Hand and Microsurgery in Louisville, KY. I was willing to regularly participate in the clinical and engineering academic societies and strived to acquire new knowledge through active communication with other hand surgeons. In 2012-13, I was participating in the fellowship there, which gave me the opportunity to communicate with attendings and fellows from all over the world, who had diverse values and thoughts and provided me with enlightening insights regarding hand surgery. In addition, there was a diverse array of lectures and conferences, and I benefited greatly from the longstanding educational system. I cherish the memories I have with my colleagues from the fellowship, whom I am still connected with through WhatsApp. After returning to Japan, I drew from and applied the experience that I acquired there for my current work.

I am currently working for the children’s hospital, National Center for Child Health and Development, and my practice is primarily concerned with congenital differences and pediatric traumas. I also encounter and treat patients with transverse failure, a congenital amputation. In collaboration with engineering and rehabilitation specialists, I contributed to the development of the myoelectric hand, which facilitates individual finger movement. In addition, after Dr. Charles Goldfarb’s presentation in Japan in 2017, we collaborated with him on several clinical studies pertaining to congenital differences.

I was an ASSH traveling fellow during the summer of 2017. During this fellowship, I revisited Providence for first time in 18 years, where I learned to perform an amazingly simple and reasonable thumb CMC arthroplasty from Dr. Weiss. I applied it in Japan using the wide awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) technique and co-authored an article about it with Dr. Weiss. Additionally, he wrote another extremely thoughtful recommendation letter for me. This letter was for the Touching Hands Project, which provides free hand surgeries, rehabilitation, and medical training in underserved communities worldwide, and was first proposed by Dr. Weiss.

Under the leadership of Dr. Fraser Leversedge, I participated in the mission trip that Touching Hands conducted in Honduras last December. I was the first international participant, and I managed to perform several pediatric hand surgeries and had an extremely enriching time there alongside other hand surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and hand therapists. I have attached a photo which was taken at a hotel just before the mission commenced. The man behind Dr. Leversedge is me. 

The 2020 ASSH Annual Meeting will be held virtually, which is unfortunate because I was greatly looking forward to meeting my mentors and friends again. However, I would like to continue to broaden my knowledge and skillset by attending various presentations and lectures and by interacting with other members of the community.