About graduate school

Message from the Dean, Graduate School of Health Sciences

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Jun Kobayash Dean

Jun Kobayash
Dean, Graduate School of Health Sciences, University of the Ryukyus

Since 2015, the Graduate School of Health Sciences, the University of the Ryukyus, has offered an Okinawa Global Health Sciences Course in English for entering students. The following details some of the characteristics of our Graduate School as compare with the many other universities in Japan that offer global health courses.

Students can study practical matters of public health because Okinawa is a prefecture in Japan with public health challenges similar to those in low- and middle-income countries. Okinawa has challenges of adolescent health, such as early pregnancy and violence, as well as the double burden of lifestyle diseases and infectious diseases because of the poverty caused by the current disparity in society. Okinawa was formed by many remote islands and has a history of overcoming the challenges of rural health. Furthermore, our island is located in the subtropical zone, and has a unique history of eradicating tropical diseases, such as malaria, which was recorded in the era of the U.S. occupation after World War II. Our graduate school offers a field in which we can learn about these experiences to solve challenges. In collaboration with the JICA Okinawa Center, we run short training courses for practitioners in low- and middle-income countries on these health issues. Graduate students can also take these courses. An opportunity to discuss public health challenges in low- and middle-income countries is provided as a basis of learning about Okinawa’s experiences.

The Graduate School of Health Sciences is comprised of both social science and a bioscience laboratories. Students can learn about the innovations needed in health sciences from these two approaches. Each class on this website is introduced, so you can find a class that matches your interests. You can also consult with our school before taking the entrance examination to determine which laboratory is best suited for you needs.

More than ten international students have already graduated from this course, and are active in their respective countries working in fields that contribute to public health administration and research. The quality of education is highly regarded by the institutions that hire our graduates for its applicability to practical public health tasks. Graduates have also commented on the warm atmosphere between instructors and students.

Okinawa is a world-famous tourist destination and is open to foreign students. During your student life, you will also have the opportunity to enjoy our rich tourist resources.

Three policies of the Graduate School of Health Sciences

Admission policies

We are seeking students who want to be researchers, leaders, or advanced professionals, and who have outstanding research ability, which enables them to contribute to people’s health, well-being and longevity.

After graduation, students are expected to be widely active both inside and outside of Japan, and are encouraged to explore ways to improve the current methods of disease prevention and health promotion. Admission policies are detailed below for Master and Doctoral programs.

■ Admission policies of the Master program

This program specifically seeks students who want to:

become educators, researchers or leaders in the field of health sciences and who have strong research abilities with a wide perspective.
study in-depth professional knowledge and skills in the field of health sciences.
contribute to not only the local community but also the global community.
become advanced professionals, e.g., certified nurse specialist, Yogo teacher with specialized certificate, or medical technologists who have research and development capacity.

■ Admission policies of Doctoral program

The program specifically seeks students who want to:

conduct outstanding health research based on the islands, ocean, natural, and social environments of Okinawa.
conduct outstanding research on the promotion of health and longevity, regenerative medicine, or the development of health resources.
conduct outstanding research on island global health through international academic exchanges with Asia-Pacific countries.

Diploma policies

Diploma policies are detailed below for Master and Doctoral programs.
By educating students from a broad perspective, our graduate school aims to foster researchers and leaders in the field of health sciences who have advanced ability to conduct research that contributes to people’s health, well-being, and longevity.

■ Diploma policies of Master program

At the completion of the program, students will have acquired the following competences:

Internationally recognized knowledge and skills
The ability to scientifically evaluate/study health development and pathological analysis
Knowledge and skills necessary for promoting island nursing and home care nursing

■ Diploma policies of Doctoral program

At the completion of the program, students will have acquired the following competences:

The ability to promote healthy longevity
The ability to promote research to explore health resources
The ability to conduct research to address unique health problems in islands in the Asia-Pacific region.

Curriculum policies

Our graduate school has established an education system that covers a wide range of areas, including nursing and medical technology. We cultivate students’ research ability as well as a high sense of ethics through dissertation guidance. We run the Okinawa Global Health Science Course to train human resources in global health and medicine.

Curriculum policies are detailed below for Master and Doctoral programs.

■ Curriculum policies of the Master program

We provide common course subjects that help students to study a wide range of areas.
Using the special features of Okinawa, we provide subjects necessary for students to acquire practical ability and research skills for island community health and communicable disease control in a sub-tropical region.
We offer courses to train highly specialized nurses who have a high standard of practical ability and research skills.

■ Curriculum policies of Doctoral program

In order to foster advanced health professionals who can be active in the global community as leaders, we operate the cross-cutting graduate school program. We also strengthen students’ English ability to conduct research and to practice and promote students’ cross-cultural understanding.
We provide the latest knowledge of life science and social science.

Laboratory Introduction

Human Health Promotion

Division	Professor	Keywords
Health Promotion & Development, School Health	Minoru Takakura	Epidemiology, Health Promotion & Education, School Health, Social Determinants of Health
Adult Health Nursing, Palliative Care Nursing	Noriko Teruya	Cancer Nursing, Palliative Care, Adult Health Nursing
Gerontological Nursing	Midori Kuniyoshi	Gerontological nursing, Elder abuse, Elder care
Mental Health Nursing, Mental Health	Takao Yokota	Mental health, Health science, Health promotion
Biometabolic chemistry, Medical biochemistry	Nanae Harashima	Cancer cell death, Tumor immunology, Natural anticancer compounds, Oxidative stress, Anticancer drug resistance
Moleculer Biology, Analysis of Molecular Biology	Hiroshi Nakao	Multi-drug resistant bacteria, Molecular epidemiology, Development of growth inhibitors of pathogenic bacteria
Biological Information Analysis, Analysis of Physiology	Hisataka Awata	Medical examination information analysis, Renal Function
Home Care Nursing
Maternal and Child Nursing		Maternal and child nursing/Maternal and child health, Genetic nursing/Rare hereditary disease, Nursing for children with disabilities/Developmental disorder, Nutritional management during pregnancy, Qualitative research/Modified Grounded Theory Approach

International and Islands Health Sciences

Division	Professor	Keywords
Fundamental Nursing, Global Nursing	Takehiko Toyosato	Fundamental Nursing, Nursing Management, Nursing System
Global Health	Jun Kobayashi	Global Health, Community Health, School Health, Maternal and Child Health, Health Policy, Malaria, Infectious Disease Control
Biostatistics	Koji Yonemoto	Clinical research and health research using biostatistics, Research on biostatistical methods
Hematoimmunology, Hematoimmunological Analysis	Takuya Fukushima	Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type-I, Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma, Molecular Epidemiology, Search for Biomarker of ATL, Development of Immunotherapy for ATL
Morphological Pathology	Takao Kinjo	Association between tumors in Okinawa and viral infection, Experimental pathology, Clinical cytology, Molecular biological analysis, Histopathological analysis
Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences	Itaru Hirai	Pathogenic bacteria, antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, molecular microbiology, Next-generation sequencing, Molecular epidemiology
Women's Health Nursing, Global Women's Health		Life-cycle and women's health, Menstrual cycle, Indefinite complaints in women's life-cycle
Community Health Nursing, Island Community Health Nursing		Public health nursing, Maternal and child health, Global health, Station system of public health nurse in Okinawa, Prevention of child abuse

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