Hirofumi Tanaka is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin, holding the Ruth Knight Millikan Centennial Professorship. He serves as Director of the Cardiovascular Aging Research Laboratory and Program Coordinator for the Exercise Physiology program. Tanaka obtained his B.S. in Physical Education from International Budo (Martial Arts) University in Japan in 1989, M.S. in Human Bioenergetics from Ball State University in 1992, and Ph.D. in Applied Physiology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1995. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular physiology at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1998. His career at UT Austin began in 2002 as Assistant Professor, advancing to Associate Professor in 2006 and full Professor in 2013. Prior roles include Research Associate and Research Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder (1995-2001) and Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005). Tanaka has also held endowed fellowships such as the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Faculty Fellows Fund (2012-2017) and Oscar and Anne Mauzy Regents Professorship (2017-2018).

Tanaka's research focuses on vascular aging, encompassing the stiffening of large elastic arteries, vascular endothelial dysfunction, and their impacts on cognitive and cerebrovascular function. He examines physiological mechanisms, consequences, and lifestyle interventions like exercise to prevent or reverse these changes, using translational methods from animal models to human clinical trials and community studies in minority populations. His involvement includes the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, Jackson Heart Study, and Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Tanaka is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (2003), American Heart Association (2007), Gerontological Society of America (2004), Society of Geriatric Cardiology (1998), and National Academy of Kinesiology (2022). He has authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications, including 'Female and male US Olympic athletes live 5 years longer than their general population counterparts: A study of 8,124 former US Olympians' (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2021), 'Aging and physiological lessons from masters athletes' (Comprehensive Physiology, 2020), and 'Scientific writing in physiology: confused/misused terms and phrases' (Journal of Applied Physiology, 2024). His contributions have advanced knowledge on exercise's protective effects against age-related vascular impairments.

Professional Email: htanaka@austin.utexas.edu