Oka Takakazu

Takakazu Oka is a Japanese physician specializing in psychosomatic medicine. He exclusively treats patients with stress-related, psychosomatic diseases, i.e., physical diseases and conditions affected by psychosocial factors. Currently, he is a professor and chairman of the department of psychosomatic medicine at the Graduate School of Medical Sciences, International University of Health and Welfare. He has been interested in Oriental medicine and studied acupuncture and herbal medicine as well as modern medicine and practiced yoga since he was a medical student at Hiroshima University. In 1985, he became a resident in the department of psychosomatic medicine, Kyushu University. After clinical training, he started research on psycho-neuro-immune interaction at Kyushu University and Harvard Medical School (1998–2002). One of his recent studies is to assess the therapeutic effect of isometric yoga on myalgiac encephalaomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and its underlying mechanisms.