As we usher in the fall season, I greet the new academic year at our Center with mixed emotions. There is great excitement for the next phase of our work as programs take shape and we welcome new colleagues into our community. Our Center’s first three Impact Scholars recently joined us and I am eager for you to meet and work with them. Our 2021-22 Seminar Series will focus broadly on framing our commitment to global health equity, starting with our kick-off session this month featuring two esteemed international colleagues as well our own Ella August, who has some exceptional work to share in this area.
But in the midst of this progress, we also recently said goodbye to Tachi Yamada—the driving force behind the Center and its mission. Tachi, as he was widely known, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Seattle in August.
From his pioneering work in drug and vaccine development to his efforts through the Gates Foundation to eradicate hepatitis C around the world, Tachi’s contributions to global health and health equity have been expansive. It was a generous gift from Tachi and his wife Leslie in 2019 that helped establish our Center, and his family has requested that donations made in Tachi’s memory will support the Center as well.
I first met Tachi when he recruited me to the University of Michigan in 1986. He was a new gastroenterology division chief, and I was a fellow destined to pursue my career at Mayo Clinic, a much more established academic unit within our field. Like so many others, I was instantly drawn to Tachi, and my aspirations changed accordingly. He was visionary, able to imagine both possibilities and the practical steps required to achieve them—a rare gift, in my experience.
Perhaps even more important than Tachi’s drive toward his own vision was his commitment to those who sought his counsel and mentorship. “I will not let you fail!” he often said, a mantra that still rings in my ears. I cannot tell you how many times I witnessed Tachi prioritize the development of others pursuing a diversity of career paths. His ability to lift those around him to unimagined heights stands at the heart of his legacy.
The University of Michigan and the Center for Global Health Equity are fortunate to occupy one small corner of that legacy, and those of us who knew him personally are luckier still. The friendship we shared and the lessons he passed on—whether by design or simply by his quiet example—continue to inspire as we strive to create a healthier, more equitable world.
On behalf of the entire global health community at the University of Michigan, thank you, Tachi, for your wisdom and friendship.
Joseph C. Kolars, MD, MACP
Director, Center for Global Health Equity
Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives
Josiah Macy Jr. Professor of Health Professions Education,
U-M Medical School
Professor of Health Management and Policy,
U-M School of Public Health