Dear Colleagues,
It is with profound sadness that I share the news that Professor Emeritus Dr. Juhn Wada passed away at his home on Saturday April 22, 2023 at the age of 99. To his many colleagues at UBC and beyond, Dr. Wada was a visionary in the neurological sciences whose decades of seminal research in epilepsy established pioneering diagnostic approaches that have transformed the field. I myself recall learning of Dr. Wada’s contributions, including the “Wada Test,” as a medical student and later as a psychiatry resident, which speaks to the renown he had attained internationally. I join his many friends and peers around the world who are receiving this news with a deep sense of loss, and it goes without saying that we will all miss him tremendously.
Born in Tokyo in 1924, Dr. Wada embarked on his long and exemplary career at the Hokkaido Imperial University (HIU) in Sapporo, Japan, where he graduated with a degree in medicine in 1946 and completed postgraduate training in clinical neurophysiology in 1951. In 1953, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at NIU, and during this period he established a brain surgical unit for which he served as Chief for several years. Following two research fellowships at the University of Minnesota and the Montreal Neurological Institute, Dr. Wada was recruited to join the academic faculty of the UBC Department of Psychiatry in 1961 and in the same year, he became a citizen of Canada.
It was here at UBC that his research flourished, and for over half a century, Dr. Wada led a dynamic and leading-edge program in epilepsy research, integrating animal investigations and clinical research approaches to unravel the mechanisms of human epilepsy, with the aim of developing more effective treatment modalities for this condition. His many academic contributions include over 300 peer-reviewed papers in the areas of neurology and epilepsy, the publication of 11 medical books, and countless hours dedicated to the training and supervision of medical students, residents and fellows. Notably, the neuroimaging/neuropsychological evaluation tool he developed for assessing cerebral hemispheric dominance of language function, known as the “Wada Test” I had referred to earlier, continues to be the gold standard for establishing cerebral dominance and is conducted worldwide prior to epilepsy surgery.
In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Wada was an attending neurologist at VGH and UBC Hospital for over two decades, also establishing UBC Hospital’s first EEG and Seizure Investigation Unit, for which he served as Director for nearly 15 years, as well as its Epilepsy Surgical program. Further to these activities, his service to his profession included prominent roles such as founding President of the Canadian League Against Epilepsy, President of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and President of the American Epilepsy Society. His career highlights also included a long list of prestigious awards, including the Herbert Jasper Award, the William G. Lennox Award and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the International League Against Epilepsy and the International Bureau for Epilepsy. As well, in apt recognition of his life’s work and distinguished achievements, Dr. Wada was the recipient of the highest honours of both Canada and Japan, namely induction as an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) in 1992, conferral to the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor and Empress of Japan in 1996, and the awarding of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
While Dr. Wada “retired” from his academic and clinical activities in 1994, at this time he was far from ready to wind down his activities or bid farewell to academia. He remained active in the Department as a post-retirement appointee, and with an ongoing drive and passion for his work, he continued to publish research and engage in scholarly discourse up until very recently. For many who had the pleasure of his friendship and collegiality over the years, Dr. Wada will be remembered not only as a brilliant scientist but also a man of genuine kindness, integrity and humility. While we celebrate his very long and remarkable life, we recognize the passing of Dr. Wada to be an immense loss to the Department, UBC and our broader psychiatry and neurology communities.
On behalf of the UBC Department of Psychiatry, I send my heartfelt condolences to the Wada family, and to our colleague Dr. Brenda Kosaka, alongside whom he worked very closely for over four decades.
Sincerely,
Dr. Lakshmi N. Yatham, MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK), MBA (Exec)
Professor and Head, UBC Department of Psychiatry
Director, Institute of Mental Health, UBC
Regional Head and Program Medical Director, VCH/PHC
The UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office respectfully acknowledges the land on which we live, work and play is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh).