Dr. K. Paul Katayama

Katayama, K. Paul, Dr. Dr. Katayama was born in Kanda, Tokyo, Japan, the youngest of five children. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Tokyo and then completed an internship at the U.S. Naval Hospital Yokuska, Japan. Encouraged to pursue graduate medical education in the U.S., he did an Ob-Gyn residency and fellowship in Baltimore, Maryland at City Hospitals and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Tokyo for his pioneering research in the cytogenetics of gynecologic cancers. He held appointments as an Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins and an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. ` In 1983 he established the first in-vitro fertilization (IVF) program in Baltimore, while on a sabbatical leave from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Returning to Milwaukee in 1984, he established Southeastern Wisconsin's first IVF Program at Waukesha Memorial Hospital. Dr. Katayama was world-renowned in his field, responsible for a number of infertility milestones, including Wisconsin's first frozen embryo baby; first selected assisted hatching (SAH); first pregnancy by partial zona dissection (PZD); first sister-to-sister donated oocyte pregnancy; first gestational surrogacy pregnancy; first microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration pregnancy (MESA); first percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration pregnancy (PESA), and the Midwest's first pregnancies by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), blastocyst embryo transfer, and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) done in the office suite. As a result of these pioneering efforts, more than 2500 infants were born. They remain his permanent memorial. While pioneering infertility treatment in America, Dr. Katayama also carried his knowledge and techniques back to Japan, where the news of IVF had been greeted with great skepticism. The first K. Paul Katayama IVF GIFT Seminar was held in Nagoya, Japan, in 1986, and several more followed. In 2003, Dr. Katayama served as one of the founding examiners for the Japanese Reproductive Endocrinology Subspecialty Board. Dr. Katayama published over 60 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals, including a groundbreaking study in 1969 on chromosomes and pelvic cancer. Dr Katayama lectured widely and loved to teach. Throughout his time in private practice, he was a very active Clinical Professor of Ob-Gyn at the University of Wisconsin's Milwaukee Campus, where he provided the endocrinology curriculum for the Ob-Gyn residents. Dr. Katayama was a Diplomat in the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and also a Diplomat in the subspecialty of Reproductive Endocrinology. Since 1987 he has been listed in Milwaukee Magazine's Best Doctors Survey. He was also listed in Best Doctors in America. He was the founding examiner of the Japanese Reproductive Subspecialty Board. Dr. Katayama is survived by his wife, Alyce Coyne Katayama, son Christopher Katayama Coyne, and daughter, Ellen Yumi (Adam) Katayama Perkins. Visitation will be held at the funeral home on Friday, February 26, from 4:00PM to 7:00PM and again on Saturday from 12:30PM until the time of services at 2:00PM. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the K. Paul Katayama Memorial Fund of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Sound Investments Campaign.