From individualized treatment to individualized preventive medicine

The increase in diseases such as cancer and dementia due to an aging society is a social problem for the entire world, including developing countries. Particularly in Japan, rapid societal aging and declining birthrate are serious problems. Increases in medical and nursing care expenses and decreases in the labor pool are reaching a critical stage. A key to solving these problems is a shift from individualized treatment to individualized preventive medicine. To realize this shift, it is essential to perform integrated research in informatics and biomedical sciences. However, there is a drastic shortage of scientists who can conduct such research and apply their research results. Therefore, we are facing an urgent need to put in place an educational program and a research environment that are suitable for fostering the development of such individuals.

Convolution education

Convolution is the integral product of two functions. Convolution education integrates the function of "biomedical sciences" with the function of "informatics" to bring about more synergistic and practical education, instead of providing education in biomedical sciences and informatics in parallel. To integrate these fields, it is necessary to analyze multilevel big data in biomedical sciences, from molecules to human populations, in order to understand pathophysiology of pre-disease states and develop preventive care approaches. Based on social needs, this program provides students with education in informatics and biomedical sciences and a collaborative research system for analyzing big data. This program fosters the development of researchers, government officials, and entrepreneurs who will develop and implement individualized preventive medicine throughout society.

Glocal (= global + local) alliances

Global alliances

Using the global alliances listed below, students will study at an overseas university for 6 to more than 12 months. They will present study findings at academic meetings held abroad in order to acquire a background for international work in the future.

Local alliances

Based on the partnership with Gifu University for bioscience research and integration of electronic medical records as part of the Tokai National Higher Education and Research System, we offer unique educational programs that maximize the use of research and medical networks in the Tokai area. Institutions in the network include the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi Cancer Center, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Aichi Developmental Disability Center, and 71 hospitals affiliated with Nagoya University Hospital as partner organizations.

In addition, we also have partnerships with local governments including the Toyota City and Takayama City municipal governments for cohort studies. These partnerships enable us to enrich the educational programs for multilevel biomedical sciences, supplement research and education that cannot be implemented by Nagoya University itself, develop a research system for a wide range of fields, and accumulate large amounts of various kinds of data.

In addition, we also offer high-quality data science education with support from the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, centered around the Graduate School of Informatics and the advanced medical informatics courses at the recently reformed School of Health Sciences.

Corporate alliances

Corporations that support this program play a role in graduate education. They work with the university in collaborative research.