Susumu Hagiwara (Japanese: 萩原 生長; November 6, 1922 – April 1, 1989) was a Japanese-born American physician and neuroscientist.
[3] The Los Angeles Times called Hagiwara "a pioneer in understanding the mechanisms of excitability in nerve and muscle cells".
[4] Dr. Kenneth Shine, dean of the UCLA School of Medicine, said: "Susumu Hagiwara revolutionized our understanding of how calcium moves across cell membranes, basic discoveries which lead [sic] to the calcium-blocking agents currently used to treat patients with heart disease, migraine and stroke".
[2] He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[4] a recipient of the Kenneth Cole Award of the Biophysical Society,[4] a holder of an honorary doctorate from the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris,[4] a recipient of the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience of the Society for Neuroscience[4][5] and, posthumously, the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government.
[4] Hagiwara died of a heart attack at his Los Angeles home on April 1, 1989.