Kazue Togasaki

Kazue Togasaki (June 29, 1897 – December 15, 1992) was one of the earliest women with Japanese ancestry to earn a medical degree in the United States.

Early life Kazue Togasaki was born on June 29, 1897, in San Francisco, California, to Japanese immigrants, Shige Kushida and Kikumatsu Togasaki. Her father studied law and her mother came from a family of merchants. Togasaki's father's unemployment resulted in her parents opening a store selling Japanese tea, rice, and chinaware. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kazue Togasaki, her father, and most of her siblings, along with other Japanese Americans, were detained by the US government; however, some of Togasaki's siblings were not incarcerated because they were away for work. In 1947, after World War II, Kazue returned to San Francisco to continue her medical practice. and Megumi Shinoda, who earned her medical degree in 1933.

Death She retired from her profession at the age of 75. When Togasaki's memory began to fail her, she persisted for twenty years with Alzheimer's disease before she died on December 15, 1992, at the age of 95.