Kenji Kosaka

was a Japanese psychiatrist, known for his pioneer research on Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), which he first described.

Life and career Kosaka was born in Ise, Mie, and completed his M.D. in 1965 from Kanazawa University.

Kosaka received the 2013 Asahi Prize for discovering Dementia with Lewy bodies.

Kosaka died from aspiration pneumonia on March 16, 2023, at the age of 83.

Contribution In 1976, Kosaka described the disease Dementia with Lewy bodies for the first time. Two years later, he reported three autopsied cases of Dementia with Lewy bodies.

The term Dementia with Lewy bodies was proposed at the first international workshop held in 1995, and later came into common use.