Professional Development
Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences
Based on the idea that society requires highly-practical, highly-advanced professionals that, in addition to having depth of knowledge and skills in certain fields, must also be familiar with pharmacology in general, we are cultivating future talent with broad skills and knowledge in drug discovery science, life sciences, bioethics, medicine development, clinical trials, publishing research, damage due to side-effects, and medical litigation who also learn in-the-field practical abilities for the medical and business world and can become vital leading pharmacologists at hospitals, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, CROs, SMOs, and universities or laboratories; researchers of basic pharmacology who understand the duties of clinical pharmacists; pharmaceutical manufacturing researchers, clinical trial developers, and clinical trial coordinators at pharmaceutical companies, etc.; and educators and researchers at a universities, etc.
In order to meet this goal, we've established a curriculum with a two-course system including the Clinical Pharmacy Course aimed at students who will become leaders in the clinical pharmacology field; and the Medical Pharmacy Course aimed at training research developers, and educators who understand medical care.
Society needs drug treatment specialists for specific diseases, e.g., specialist/certified pharmacists for cancer, etc., as well as leading pharmacists who can demonstrate strong leadership skills in regards to general pharmacology for hospitals and pharmacies, and thus a curriculum corresponding to both these needs is necessary.
Furthermore, in order to train the industry-ready leading pharmacists that society demands, over a year of practical and advanced experience in clinical practice is necessary, thus it is necessary to have certification as a pharmacist to join the Clinical Pharmacy Course.
Meanwhile, at medical institutions such as hospitals and pharmacies, there is a strong need for practicing evidence-based medicine and the training of specialist/certified pharmacists, etc., who are experts in drug treatment for specific diseases, and for this purpose, practical clinical experience, taking professional courses, presenting at academic conferences both in Japan and abroad, and submitting papers to international specialized journals are being promoted.
Pharmaceutical companies have also rapidly shifted the focus of their activities from domestic to overseas due to marketability and development environment issues, however, the intense flow of globalization requires industry-ready researchers that are capable of responding to internationalization. In order to respond to these needs, subjects that foster language ability and the ability to write theses are necessary. The Medical Pharmacy Course includes a curriculum that responds appropriately to these human resource development goals.
In the 4-year doctoral course, consistent with the 6-year bachelor's education curriculum, students will be taught to possess both excellent research abilities and professional clinical pharmacological skills. Therefore, our goal is to construct a curriculum that develops both research capabilities and professional skills. However, we have found that of students enrolled in the graduate school program, there are students who wish to make use of their pharmacological knowledge and skills in the clinical field, becoming basic researchers and developmental researchers or even CRO/SMO clinical research coordinators, and educators or researchers at universities etc., as well as those who plan to become leading pharmacists at hospitals and pharmacies.
Therefore, in anticipation of an increase in the number of graduate school entrants, we decided to set up two courses to satisfy the needs of these students.
In the Medical Pharmacy Course, we aim to train basic researchers, developmental researchers, teachers, etc., who make full use of their knowledge and skills related to pharmacological work learned in clinical situations, and we have established lesson subjects and study models for students wishing to work in: 1) research and development at pharmaceutical companies, 2) CRO, SMO, clinical trial coordination, 3) education and research at universities or research institutions
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences
In regards to a graduate program (Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences), based on the four-year undergraduate curriculum, we have already established a doctoral program in 2010 and have just started implementing a new program for graduate study.
We aim with this specialization to nurture creative thinking ability, inquiring minds, and a drug discovery mindset based on knowledge and skills in basic sciences--mainly life sciences such as physics-related pharmacology, chemistry-related pharmacology, and biological pharmacology. We expect students to demonstrate outstanding research ability within their specialization, voluntarily discover and solve problems through a solid and comprehensive grasp of drug discovery science and life sciences, and become leaders on the ground in cutting edge drug discovery, life science research, and medicine development.
The pharmaceutical industry is a key industry that supports Japan in the 21st century and, being a nation that focuses on science and technology, there is a strong call for development of molecular targeted drugs, antibody drugs, and functional nucleic acid medicines based on genomic drug discovery. Also, expectations are high for the development of regenerative medicine and cell medicine using ES cells and iPS cells in advanced medical care as these endeavors are prioritized as part of the national scientific developmental strategy.
In order to offer strong and sustainable support, it is essential to cultivate drug discovery and life science researchers and especially those who can compete on an international scale. Based on the idea that these highly specialized professionals (researchers and engineers) must be talented people who have an understanding of drug discovery and life sciences in addition to deep knowledge and skills in their specific fields, we nurture researchers to have broad knowledge and skills which they will make use of in pharmaceutical companies, drug discovery venture companies, universities, and laboratories.
In this course we will continue to develop the curriculum created in the Pharmaceutical Development Research Training Program (2007-9) as part of the Graduate School Education Reform Support Program, the aim of which was to foster the growth of practical drug discovery researchers.
In other words, we have developed a four-course program including the Medicinal Chemistry (for training chemistry-oriented drug discovery researchers), the Bio-Pharma (for training biology-based drug discovery researchers), the Drug Delivery (for training medicine-oriented drug discovery researchers), and the Life Science (for training life science researchers) courses where Master's degree students will engage in lectures, exercises, and practical courses tailored for the specialized fields of each course.
The curriculum for the Doctor's Program to be established at this time includes Special Experimentation II which links directly to the doctoral thesis; and Themed Workshops, where students create and present proposals and research plans based on assumed research plan assessments at pharmaceutical companies and universities, and then carry out research according to these research plans. This curriculum will allow students to acquire the ability to voluntarily discover and solve problems, an indispensable quality for an independent researcher.
Also, practical subjects related to patents, market research, and clinical development which are all necessary in practical pharmaceutical research and development will be implemented, and students will be taught to have an overall understanding of pharmaceutical research and development.
Furthermore, the curriculum will contain subjects directly related to career selection including the discussion of methods directly related to the challenges of business venture establishment, the attitudes required to become university faculty, methods for effective education, and a seminar course for understanding university management.
