Greetings from Dean
Takashi Miki,
M.D., Ph.D.
We keep proceeding with a goal to promote research and development of ‘therapeutics’ and to foster medical personnel capable of excelling on the world stage.
Chiba University, Graduate School of Medicine will celebrate its 150th anniversary of establishment in the year 2024. Although studies on medicine and medical remedy have existed in our country for a far longer time, the current research and educational framework for medicine leading up to the present was established after the Meiji Restoration. Our department has its foundation in Kyoritsu Hospital in 1975, making it one of the leading medical schools in our country with a long history.
Over the course of nearly 150 years, our department has produced many outstanding clinical doctors and medical researchers. Reflecting on our department's history, its distinctive feature and strength lie in not only limiting the study of diseases to a mere understanding of their pathophysiology but also extending it to the creation of their therapeutic theory. Hence, in recent years, our department has named this academic discipline ‘therapeutics’ and is advancing research and human resource development in therapeutics while integrating clinical and basic research departments under this ‘Pioneering the Therapeutics’ banner.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection disease (COVID-19) in early 2020 brought about fear, confusion, and societal changes worldwide. While we have finally reached a point where we can envision the post-COVID era, we cannot still see the end, and adequate preparation for the next emerging infections is not yet in place. In light of this, in 2022, the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) initiated the ‘Japan Initiative for World-leading Vaccine Research and Development Centers’ and our department was selected as one of the 4 national synergy centers collaborating with the flagship center in the University of Tokyo. As a closely coordinated structure for vaccine development, the Research Institute of Disaster Medicine (RIDM) has been also established in 2021. The synergy center in our department will promote vaccine development in tight cooperation with RIDM with an aim to establish a novel vaccination strategy.
COVID-19 pandemic brought to light not only the difficulty in its medical treatment but also the impact of social burden on medical care system in rural areas with limited medical resources. In response, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) aimed to foster research personnel capable of flexibly addressing medical issues ascribed to various social factors and initiated ‘Development of Human Resource Centers for Medical Professionals in Post-COVID Era’ in 2022. Our department was selected in this research project and is advancing research on human resource development to foster medical professionals with strong passion and curiosity on community-based health care.
Furthermore, from April 2024, new restrictions on work-time for medical doctors will be started. This requires all the faculty members in our department to provide the undergraduates with the efficient educational programs. In 2023, our department has been selected as one of the 4 adopted universities to complete the programs supported by MEXT to accomplish the high-quality education for fostering medical professionals skilled in community-based health care. In this project, along with the aim for fostering skilled local medical professionals, there is also a call to enhance the clinical medical research capabilities of our country, which has seen a recent decline in international competitiveness. Under the leadership of the Clinical Research Center in our university hospital, our department is progressing in the development of personnel qualified in clinical medical research and in the improvement of research infrastructure.
In this way, the mission of the medical department in universities is, in general, to promote medical research, nurture talented physician and researchers, and disseminate prompt, adequate, and high-quality medical treatment. In our department, we hope to steadily advance the study to ‘Pioneer the Therapeutics’ while interlocking these three aspects of our mission.
