KITAGAWA YUKO

Director General of Keio University Hospital

Expectations of JKiC as the stage for creating medical care of the future

In 2017, we celebrate the first centennial of Keio University School of Medicine, and we embark on our next 100 years. We expect to complete construction of the new hospital wing by 2020, which will mark the centennial of Keio University Hospital.

The mission of Keio University Hospital comprises the following four pillars: 1. To provide compassionate, reliable, patient-centered health care; 2. To develop and provide advanced medical care and ensure its quality and safety; 3. To foster the development of medical professionals who possess intellectual depth and compassionate understanding; and 4. To contribute to the welfare of mankind through ethical medical science and medical care.

In order to achieve its mission, since its establishment Keio University Hospital, based on Keio founder Yukichi Fukuzawa’s principles of independence (thinking and implementing for oneself) and jitsugaku, or empirical science, has embodied the aspirations of Shibasaburo Kitasato, the inaugural Dean of the School of Medicine and the Hospital's first director. When the School was founded, Kitasato addressed “to realize medical science and medical care that unify basic research and clinical practice” and “to make efforts in scholastic achievement in unity and fusion, like a family” as the School’s goals.

Jitsugaku not only signifies academic knowledge that is directly useful in actual society and actual daily life, but also refers to scientific approaches to resolve problems by empirically elusidating the truth of the problems and practices to dramatically change prevailing concepts and customs. JKiC can truly be described as a setting where Keio University School of Medicine and Keio University Hospital work as one with the JSR Corporation to implement jitsugaku.

Keio University Hospital was accredited as a Core Clinical Research Hospital in 2016. Of the 11 such hospitals nationwide, we are the only private university hospital to receive this accreditation. As a Core Clinical Research Hospital, we are committed to putting patient safety first, and we also have the responsibility to contribute to the development of global health care through the creation of new medical treatments.

Keio University School of Medicine and Keio University Hospital have always strived to achieve unified basic and clinical research in medicine and medical care, tackled a wide range of research issues, and continuously worked day and night to realize optimal treatments. Through the venue of JKiC, I anticipate that we will be able to empirically create future treatments that would not come into being solely through the type of joint research with researchers, and pharmaceutical, medical equipment or bio- companies that has occurred thus far.