IMSUT Farewell Lecture Gathering: Dean's opening remarks
IMSUT Farewell Lecture Gathering: Dean's opening remarks
2013-03-18
Thank-you for attending the IMSUT Farewell Lecture Gathering today, amidst a spring windstorm. This year three faculty members, Professor Motoharu Seiki and Associate Professors Naoki Oyaizu and Koichiro Tsuji, who have actively served IMSUT and its hospital must leave upon reaching retirement age, and with this sad feeling of parting, I want to thank these three sincerely for their individual contributions to the institute and hospital. We are happy to be able to hold this gathering today to honor these three individuals' earnest engagement in basic and clinical research, and we are looking forward to being treated with their final lectures.
At the top of the lineup, Assoc. Prof. Tsuji has been working at this institute for 18 years and 7 months, the final period as head of the Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and through treating pediatric blood and cancer patients, he guided research on developing patient treatments using hematopoietic stem cells and iPS cells. He definitely propelled the Bed to Bench and Bench to Bed interplay of basic research with clinical treatment for which IMSUT prides itself.
Up second in the lineup, Assoc. Prof. Oyaizu over the course of 12 years and 6 months helped us create an environment for Translational Research that bridges basic research with clinical application. He accomplished this by establishing a pathology framework and both establishing and operating the Department of Laboratory Medicine, which are prerequisites for TR.
Prof. Seiki will give today's final lecture. Prof. Seiki has been employed here 16 years advancing the field of tumor biology, originating and pursuing the concept of protease regulation in normal and tumor tissues, and leading cancer research both domestically and internationally. His research findings (MT1-MMP and related molecules) are about to be developed for cancer diagnosis and novel treatments. In addition, astonishing, amazing fact is that amidst his 16 years of research on the Shirokane Campus, half of that time, 8 years, was spent as dean or vice-dean diverting much of his time to managing and running this institute. Through his great efforts we received guidance, and risk management was greatly strengthened.
Today we are looking forward to hearing about the research of Dr. Tsuji, Dr. Oyaizu and Dr. Seiki from the beginning, each one's passion for the Shirokane campus, the institute and the hospital, and their recollections on all of these.
Dr. Tsuji, Dr. Oyaizu and Dr. Seiki, I offer you my sincere appreciation for your long service and contributions at the basic and clinical level to this institute and hospital. And now, offering my appreciation also to everybody gathered today for these professors' final lectures, let's look forward to listening together to their talks.
