Obituary | Kiyoshi Kaneda, MD

Kiyoshi Kaneda, MD

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It is with sadness we report that Professor Kiyoshi Kaneda passed away on October 9, 2022. He was 86 years old.  

Professor Kaneda was born in Fukushima Prefecture on September 7, 1936. He studied medicine at Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. After graduating medical school in 1962 and completion of internship at Kyoto University he did his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Hokkaido University. 

In 1973 he became a visiting clinical fellow with John E. Hall, MD at the Children Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1974 he was a visiting clinical fellow with John Moe, MD and Robert B. Winter, MD at the Twin Cities Scoliosis Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Upon returning to Sapporo in 1976, Professor Kaneda was appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hokkaido University School of Medicine. He devoted his career to scoliosis and spine surgery. In the early 1980’s, he developed a new dual rod anterior spinal fixation system (“Kaneda device”). In 1986, Professor Kaneda was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hokkaido University. 

He and his spine fellows worked with Professor Manohar M. Panjabi and contributed significantly to spinal biomechanics research. Professor Kaneda became a member of the Scoliosis Research Society in 1983 and was an Emeritus Fellow at his passing.  He was a member of ISSLS and served as its President from 1996-1997. He received the ISSLS Wiltse Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 and the NASS Wiltse Award in 2011.

But Professor’s Kaneda’s greatest legacy may well not be on any plaque, award, or patent filing. Professor Kaneda’s great and most enduring contribution to spine surgery is his program for promoting the exchange of information and training between surgeons in Japan and the rest of the world.