The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Yamaguchi University, is located in Ube City, the city of green and sculpture, in the southwest of Yamaguchi Prefecture, the site of the Meiji Restoration. Started as Yamaguchi Prefectural Medical School in 1944, the school became a medical college and later a national university, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine in 1964. In 2000 The School of Health Sciences, which includes the Division of Nursing and Division of Laboratory Sciences, was established and formed the current Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

As a hub institution of medicine and health sciences for Yamaguchi, we contribute to medical and health professionals’ development with a pioneering spirit with both local and global perspectives. The Faculty has established a medical institution founded in a tradition known for its strengths in research, education, and clinical practice.

The Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 has brought global focus on the importance of going back to the fundamentals of healthcare to manage the pandemic. Future challenges include the development of vaccines, effective public health measures, telehealth services, remote education, and effective and responsive teaching, healthcare systems, and human resources.

As well as infectious diseases, we are faced with a rapidly aging population and increasing clinical complexity. Still, the fundamental aim of healthcare remains to provide optimal treatment, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive care in a safe, comfortable environment for patients and their families. Today more than ever, there is a need for translational care based on global best practice standards drawing on synergies with life and information sciences. The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences has been a leader in advanced treatment in a range of specialties such as oncology, regenerative medicine, adult and lifestyle-related diseases, mental health, neurology, and genetics. The establishment of the Artificial Intelligence Systems Medicine Research and Training Center (AISMEC) to respond to fast-evolving fields in data science has put us ahead of other universities to move forward into a new era.

The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences aims to meet the high expectations of students who aspire to become medical scientists, physicians, nurses, and clinical laboratory technologists. They are equipped with the knowledge and skills to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary healthcare teams to deliver compassionate care based on humanitarian, ethical principles. Excellence in communication and teamwork is cultivated through interdisciplinary education with a shared purpose. We encourage and support our students in a range of educational and sporting and community-based activities on and off-campus.

The School of Medicine continually strives to enhance its curriculum in response to the changing times and needs. We received international accreditation from the Japan Accreditation Council for Medical Education in 2019. We are proud of our cultivation of a global perspective and a spirit of academic research in students. Every year, more than a dozen students from the School of Medicine spend about five months in Europe and the United States through the “Academic Doctor Program for Medical Students.” Students from the School of Health Sciences organize the APAHL (Asia-Pacific Alliance of Health Leaders) forum in collaboration with countries in Asia and Australia for students’ exchanges. The Society for Nursing and Health Sciences at Yamaguchi University established the internationally renowned journal Nursing & Health Sciences in 1999, which was the first nursing and health sciences journal to be fully published in English in Japan. We also have a full-time international professor. Utilizing diverse human resources to foster depth and breadth in academic and clinical areas, we contribute to society both locally and globally.

Koh Shinoda
Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences