He received his PhDs in Pharmacology from Osaka University and from Hyogo College of Medicine. Dr. Kitanaka completed his post-doctoral fellowship from the Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse-NIH, USA, under the supervision of Dr. George Uhl. His research focuses on signs and symptoms of methamphetamine abuse and addiction. This includes research on behavioral analyses under acute methamphetamine overdose; studies of pharmacotherapy on methamphetamine abuse; and research on pathophysiological association of methamphetamine effects with brain histaminergic neuronal system. He also serves on the DAD editorial board since 2012.