Akira Ohtake received his M.D. from Chiba University School of Medicine in 1979. After receiving a Ph.D. from Chiba University School of Medicine in 1988, he obtained a position as a Lecturer in the Department of Pediatrics, Chiba University School of Medicine from 1988 to 1992. Then, he moved to the Department of Clinical Genetics, The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science from 1992 to 1994 as a Principal Investigator, mainly studying Fatty Acid Oxidation Defects. Then, he moved to the Department of Pediatrics, Saitama Medical University in 1994. On leave from Saitama Medical University, he joined the Department of Biochemistry, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia from 2002 to 2003, where he learned about mitochondrial diseases under Dr. Mike T Ryan and Dr. David R Thorburn. After coming back to Japan, he started researching the molecular basis of mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders with Prof. Yasushi Okazaki and Prof. Kei Murayama. He became a professor at the Department of Pediatrics, Saitama Medical University in 2007 and doubled as a vice-president of the Centre for Intractable Diseases in 2015 and as a professor of the Department of Clinical Genomics in 2019. Since 2024, he has been working as a Visiting & Honorary Professor at the Department of Clinical Genomics & Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Saitama Medical University.