Greeting from the Dean

Hokkaido University School of Medicine was established in 1919 along with the foundation of Hokkaido Imperial University, and it is one of the oldest faculties of Hokkaido University. The graduate school of the faculty (doctoral program), Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, was established in 1955. Then, since the recent University Education Reforms in 2000 the faculty has increased the emphasis on graduate education rather than undergraduate education.

Prior to many other universities, we established a master’s degree program in 2002, open to all university graduates of a range of faculties. We had become aware of the urgent necessity to provide education in medical science and social medicine for outstanding individuals with a wide range of non-medical backgrounds. The objective of this program is to offer opportunities to learn medical science and social medicine for students with a thorough knowledge of a variety of fields other than medicine. Currently the program has three courses, a Medical Specialist Course, a Medical Science Course, and a Social Medicine Course. More than 216 students have already completed the courses.

The goal of the doctoral program in medical science is to train outstanding medical researchers and educators for the future. This program includes three courses, (1) Basic Medicine Course to train young researchers to lead medical research and education, (2) Social Medicine Course to develop knowledgeable specialists in social and preventive medicine, and (3) Clinical Medicine Course to train researchers able to conduct advanced clinical study. In 2009 an MD-PhD course was also started, where undergraduate students in the sixth year of the Division of Medicine can start to take graduate school courses and are able to complete the advanced program in three years, aiming at training graduate students in medicine to become researchers in basic medical research.

A variety of leading-edge research is under way at the Graduate School of Medicine. They include the mechanisms of development and aging related to the structure and functions of the human body, the relationships between the human body and the environment, the causes of diseases and pathogenic mechanisms, as well as research into social medicine, which are manifested in many of the issues posed by modern society, and elucidating these from a medical standpoint. Unique, pioneering clinical research is also in progress in a number of fields, including drug discovery through the application of genetic engineering, development of cutting-edge diagnostic medical equipment that uses the theory and technology of physical engineering, and development of new treatment techniques through the application of humanized animal models and system/cellular engineering. The research we conduct has received international acclaim, and Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine has played a central role in large-scale national research projects, as a result of intense competitions: the Matching Program for Innovations in Future Drug Discovery and Medical Care, the All Hokkaido Translational Research Project for Advanced Medicine, the Advanced Photonic Bio-Imaging Research Project, and the Development of Real-time Tumor-tracking Radiation Therapy with 4D Molecular Imaging Techniques (with Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology). Further, the Cancer Professional Training Plan is in progress in collaboration with three other medical universities in Hokkaido, linking up with world class research.

Education and research are two sides of the same coin in medicine. The missions of Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine are to conduct medical research that leads the world in a range of fields, and to develop high-level researchers in the fields of life sciences, clinical medicine and social medicine, or supervisory clinical doctors who can play a central role in community based medicine and also to train young doctors for the future. In pursuit of the four basic philosophies of educational research of Hokkaido University, the frontier spirit, cultivation of internationalism, all-round education, and a spirit of valuing practical science in the medical field, we are firmly determined to make a contribution to international society. Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine welcomes everyone who has the aspiration to engage in state-of-the-art medical studies, wishing to promote an attractive research and education environment for everybody involved.

Nagara Tamaki, M.D., Ph.D. Dean, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine