Comments to the IMSUT-Minato Ward Partnership Agreement Signing Ceremony
Comments to the IMSUT-Minato Ward Partnership Agreement Signing Ceremony
2013-07-30
Thank you for the introduction.
My name is Hiroshi Kiyono, Dean of the Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo (IMSUT).
On behalf of IMSUT, I would like to take this occasion to extend my compliments to the Minato Ward residents and everyone involved.
I heard that the Minato Ward had already concluded partnership agreements with 7 universities including Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology and Keio University, and has been promoting collaborative projects taking advantage of each university's characteristics. However, this is the first time to conclude partnership agreement mainly in the fields of medical treatment, medical science and health promotion.
We have been cooperating with the Minato Ward Medical Association and Dental Association and promoting relations with Minato Ward residents through the monthly medical open lectures coordinated by Prof. Kozo Imai, the Director of our IMSUT Hospital who is also here today as a key person. With our partnership agreement which will be concluded today, we can further strengthen our mutual collaboration. We place great value on our existence as a community partner-based hospital and medical science research institute, even as our discoveries continue to have global impact.
IMSUT was founded as a private institute 121 years ago under the name "The Institute of Infectious Disease" (IID) which was established by Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato. What is notable is that our institute is the leading university affiliated medical science oriented institute with its own affiliated hospital, and this combination of institute and hospital has been part of our identity since our beginning.
We have been both conducting world leading basic research and providing cutting edge medical treatments for people afflicted with various kinds of infectious diseases on the basis of "bed to bench and bench to bed", that is to say, "from the basic research to understand diseases to the development of novel preventions and therapies". About 40-50 years ago, after social condition including public health and sanitation in Japan had undergone a great improvement together with Japan's economic growth, research into various noninfectious diseases such as cancers and immunological diseases were beginning to progress rapidly, and our predecessors reorganized the IID into the current IMSUT to respond better to social needs with higher academic standards that could improve health standards further.
In the current era, we are conducting cutting-edge medical science research and providing the most advanced medical care in the field of intractable diseases such as cancers, infectious diseases, immunological diseases and hematological disorders. Especially in the medical treatment for cancers, we have started implementing cancer peptide vaccination, application of regenerative medicine and advanced palliative treatment in addition to the existing leading-edge treatments in advance of the rest of the world.
As Mr. Masaaki Takei, the Mayor of Minato Ward, mentioned in his speech, "Minato Home Palliative Care Support Center" will be opened in 2017 in the building next to our institute which used to be the National Institute of Public Health. We are pleased to contribute to this plan making maximum use of our intellectual resources, human resources and physical resources.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Takei, and all of the Minato Ward officials who have been involved in reaching the partnership we announced today. We wish Minato Ward continued success in the future.