Yamaguchi Hidetaka (1866-1916): Originally from Tokyo, Japan, he graduated from Japan’s Imperial Universities. He arrived in Taiwan in April 1897 to fill the post of Director of the Taipei Hospital. He set up a Medical Learning Center for Locals in the hospital. This was the start of modern medical education in Taiwan. In 1899, Medical School of the Office of Governor-General was founded, and Yamaguchi was appointed to be its first president. During his career he also worked in the Civil Affairs Department as an assistant and a technician, and as a member of the Taiwan Central Health Assembly.

Yamagiwa Katsusaburō (1863-1930): Japanese pathologist and graduate from the Medical School at the Imperial University of Tokyo. He later studied in Germany under pathologist Rudolf Virchow. After returning to Japan, he was made a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University where he taught pathology. He utilized chemicals to create the world’s first artificial cancer. In 1919, he was given the Japanese Imperial Academy Award.

A branch of medicine started at the end of the 19th century by British physician Patrick Manson (1844-1922). It specializes in researching infectious diseases caused by protozoans and parasites. The development of this branch of medicine was largely related to British colonies in tropical areas.

Takagi Tomoe (1858-1943): Originally from Fukushima, Japan, he graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1885. He served as the director of the Fukui Prefectural Hospital, in the Research Institute for Communicable Diseases, as the dean of the College of Serum Medicine, and the head of the Plague Prevention Office at the Health Bureau in the Ministry of Interior. In 1902, he came to Taiwan and while on island served as the dean of medicine and president of the Medical School of the Office of Governor-General, the director of the Taipei Hospital, and office head of the Temporary Office for Disease Prevention (under the Ministry of Civil Affairs). He actively promoted prevention for the plague and malaria. Later he was made the head of the Research Institute of the Office of the Governor-General and the first head of the Taiwan Power Joint-stock Company.

Set up in 1930 by the Office of the Governor-General to correct the Taiwanese addiction to opium. It was run by Du Cong-ming. The hospital researched opium and also handled the practice affairs of addiction recovery and treatment.

Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932): A Scottish physician who while in Western Africa discovered that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries.

Robert Koch (1843-1910): His full name is Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch. A German physician and microbiologist, he is revered along with Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) as the fathers of bacteriology. In 1905, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on tuberculosis. He continued on to discover the anthrax bacterium, mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Asiatic cholera; he developed ways to differentiate and diagnose the pathogens of infectious diseases, which are called the theories of bacteriology or Koch’s postulates.

Ogata Masanori (1853-1919): Originally from Kumamoto, Japan, he graduated from the University of Tokyo. In 1880 he went to Germany to study hygiene and bacteriology. In 1886, he became a professor at the Imperial Universities. He held the earliest professorship for hygiene. He set up a bacteria room in the Ministry of Interior’s Laboratory and thus laid the foundation for bacteriology.

In 1871, shipwrecked sailors from the Ryukyu Kingdom made their way to southern Taiwan, but were massacred by aborigines living in Gaoshifo. In May 1874, the Japanese under the pretext of retribution against the aborigines sent troops to take control of southern Taiwan. The Mudan community received the brunt of the attack and so it is historically referred to as the Mudan Incident. Through British arbitration, Qing China and Japan signed an agreement to resolve the matter.

Established in 1899, it continued what was begun as the Taiwan Local Doctor Development Center established in 1897 and had the mission of cultivating local doctors in Taiwan. It was Taiwan’s first legitimate medical school. The school mandated a year of preparatory classes, then four years in a chosen specialty, for a total of five years. Later it went through three other development stages: the Medical Professional School of the Office of the Governor-General, the Medical Professional School of Taipei, and the medical department of Taipei Imperial University.

These centers were established in malaria prevention areas to carry out the work of stopping malaria. Staff members included prevention workers and assistants. They primarily examined blood samples under microscopes to see if a person was infected with malaria. Those found having the parasite were given quinine. They also collected malarial mosquitoes.

These are diseases that keep reoccurring in a certain location. They are sometimes referred to as regional diseases. Common diseases in this category are malaria and cholera.

In the latter half of the 19th century, Western medicine developed on the back of bacteriology theory. Laboratory medicine is the use of microscopes and other instruments in a laboratory to conduct medical research. Prior to this, developments in Western medicine primarily relied on clinical therapies in hospitals, called hospital medicine.

Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa (1847-1895): The ninth son of Prince Fushimi Kuniie in the royal family, he inherited the house of Kitashirakawa-no-miya. He studied military affairs in Prussia and later served in such posts as Commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade, army lieutenant general, commander of the 4th Division, 6th Division, and the Imperial Guard. In 1895, when the Republic of Formosa was formed, he led his imperial guard to Taiwan in what would be a six-month invasion. At the end of October, he died in Tainan from malaria (one account says cholera).

Kitasato Shibasaburō (1853-1931): Originally from Kumamoto, Japan, he graduated from the Imperial Universities in 1883 and later studied abroad in Germany where he studied under Robert Koch. In 1889, he successfully cultivated the tetanus bacterium. He also created the blood serum therapy with German physiologist Emil Adolf von Behring. In 1892, he founded the Institute for the Study of Infectious Diseases. In 1914, he founded the Kitasato Institute. He was also the first dean of medicine at Keio University and the first president of the Japan Medical Association.