A Message from Dean
 |
Dr. Tsuchiya Koichiro |
The educational philosophy of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Tokushima University is “to develop human resources that proactively explore their own field, with their broad knowledge, skills and professional abilities in various fields of pharmacy, as well as a high sense of ethics that is necessary for the cooperation with the society (“Interactive YAKUGAKUJIN”). Pursuing the philosophy, at the beginning of the academic year 2021, we were reorganized to a faculty which offers a six-year education program for all students. More details of our new system are described below.
The history of our faculty goes back to 1922, when the precursor department in a higher technical school was founded at the suggestion of Dr. Nagayoshi Nagai, the founder of pharmacy in Japan, with his ambition of “Discovery of New Drugs.” The school began accepting students the year after it opened, then reorganized to an independent faculty of Tokushima University in 1949. We will mark the 100th anniversary of foundation in 2023, as the only national faculty having its origin in a technical school.
As apparent from the history, we have kept developing based on “Research for Drug Discovery.” This is also supported by the fact that many of our graduates have built their careers at pharmaceutical companies and in chemical industries. On the other hand, as one of our unique characteristics, we have also had another great advantage in merging the research for drug discovery with other medical expertise, since three medical-related faculties (Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry) and the affiliated hospital are concentrated on the Kuramoto Campus, in which our faculty is located.
Due to the amendment of the school education law enforced in 2006, six-year education became required for all students aspiring to become pharmacists. We used to have two schools, as many other national universities did so, the School of Pharmacy (6 years) and the School of Pharmaceutical Techno Sciences (4 years), since about half of our graduates had proceeded to industries in which pharmacist licenses were not required, and we were hoping that all students equally learn fundamental knowledge of pharmacy, whether 4 years or 6 years. We had also adopted a unique system within the structure, in which all students studied together until they split into the two courses at the beginning of the latter half of the third year. This is the way how we have long been committed to “Pharmacy-based Education for Future Pharmacists and Pharmacy Researchers.”
As a result of commitment, some students in the School of Pharmaceutical Techno Sciences (4 years) were graduated as drug discovery engineers and researchers who understand the medical field in which drugs are used, and some were qualified to take the national pharmacist examination during the doctoral course, and eventually became a pharmacist with a doctoral degree and a pharmacist license.
Additionally, after the six-year education system was introduced, the environment surrounding pharmacy greatly changed. The society has started to need such human resources more and more as 1) hospital, pharmacy and public-institution pharmacists who can contribute to the establishment and operation of comprehensive local support/service providing system (comprehensive regional care system), 2) pharmacists who can contribute to emergency medical care in cases of large-scale disaster, 3) pharmacists and pharmacy researchers having expertise in data science, who can contributes to realize “Super Smart Society (Society 5.0), 4) pharmacists and pharmacy researchers who can resolve clinical issues and make the feedback to clinical sites, and 5) pharmacists with doctoral degrees, that is, Pharmacist-Scientists, who can contribute to the society and lead the educational research for pharmaceutical sciences.
To meet such social needs, we positively merged the research-oriented curriculum, which had been developed by the School of Pharmaceutical Techno Sciences, into that of the School of Pharmacy to establish “New Six-year Education Program based on Pharmacist License” as part of our recent reorganization. This novel program provides students with high-degree fundamental abilities in pharmacy and various career options.
From the academic year 2021, all students will receive the six-year program, which makes them eligible for pharmacist licenses. However, we will keep aiming to produce pharmacists and researchers with high research abilities, not just licensed pharmacists, who can take part in various research fields of pharmacy. Further, our new curriculum has also been designed to nurture Pharmacist-Scientists, who understand medical care from the perspective of pharmacist.
In the first and second year, students will learn basics of pharmacy and research activities to understand what pharmacy is. And then at the third year, they split into two courses depending on their individual aptitude. The Leading Pharmaceutical Researcher Course (capacity: 30) is designed to nurture future researchers and pharmacy teachers through academic acceleration (PharmD-PhD) and longer research engagement. The Leading Pharmacist Course/Pharmacist in Research-oriented Advanced Medical Care (capacity: 40) is intended for future professional pharmacists playing an active role in such fields as team medicine and advanced medical care. Finally, the Leading Pharmacist Course/Pharmacist in Research-oriented Regional Medical Care (capacity: 10) is designed to produce leading pharmacists in the field of regional medical care.
With these courses, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Tokushima University aims to produce “human resources that can proactively explore their own fields, with broad knowledge, skills and professional abilities in various fields of pharmacy, as well as a high sense of ethics that is necessary for the cooperation with the society (“Interactive YAKUGAKUJIN”), and to contribute to realize enriched and healthy future society for the people in Japan and the world.
The details of our faculty from the academic year 2021 are as described above. However, nothing is different between future students and current students, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, in that we have long been, and will be, focused on both drug discovery and medical care in tandem.
Around 1920, when the precursor of our faculty was founded, Japan was in a difficult time due to such disasters as the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and the world-wide pandemic of Spanish flu (1918 – 1920). This is surprisingly similar to the current situation, 100 years later. In that hard time, Dr. Nagayoshi Nagai founded our faculty with his ambition of “Discovery of New Drugs.”
Although the world has greatly changed over many years since then, we are still hoping that all the people gathering at our Faculty of Pharmacy will, with Dr. Nagai’s spirit in mind, open a new era in every field involving pharmacy.
