久留米大学 医学部 医学科医学教育研究センター
国際医学交流部門

I’m Emiko Mizoguchi, M.D., Ph.D., a Professor in the Department of Immunology at Kurume University School of Medicine (KUSM), who has been appointment as the Chair of the International Affairs Division of Medicine in the Center for the Study of Medical Education (CSME) since April 1st, 2022. This Division was established in 2018 within the CSME. This time, I have been appointed as the successor (the second Chair) of Professor Atsushi Mizoguchi, the Chairman of the Department of Immunology at KUSM, who was the first Chair of this Division.

Currently, Kurume University has inter-university exchange agreements with 35 schools in 18 countries. Above all, through the former Dean of Medicine at Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School (Providence, USA）, where I have been conducting joint-collaborative research since I was in the US, accompanied with the great cooperation and support of Kurume University officials, the agreement between the two universities was signed on January 1st, 2018. It is an unexpected joy for me to have contributed to this inter-university agreements.

Through the Brown-Kurume Exchange Programs, we plan to exchange 4 clinical-internship students from Brown University and 2 basic research students from Kurume University every year. In addition to the US, in November 2018, we signed an inter-university agreement with Sri Jayewardenepura University (Nugegoda, Sri Lanka), and we also accepted medical trainees including 3 students from the Konyang University School of Medicine (Nonsan, South Korea) in May 2019 and 2 students from Guna Dharma University School of Medicine (Jakarta, Indonesia) in September 2019. I sincerely hope that I would like to contribute to have smooth exchanges with overseas medical students.

It has been a long time since it is pointed out that Japanese people are away from studying abroad, but while actually interacting with medical students through the lectures and practical training classes at KUSM, there are those who strongly wish to try their potential abilities from a global perspective of studying abroad. I have been very surprised that there are so many students who have wishes as shown above. Through the focus on pre- and post-graduate medical English education, we need to consider sending excellent students and researchers to study abroad at cutting-edge research facilities in Europe and the US, which may contribute to the development of basic researchers that are directly linked to clinical practice in the future. In particular, I would like to provide an opportunity to cultivate original and unique ideas, which is the most important stance as a doctor with a global perspective, through interacting with multi-national students and researchers by studying abroad.

Unfortunately, since February 2020, the new coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 has forced the international exchange programs to stagnate. However, in early 2022, the world’s corona border policy has been relaxing lockdown measures gradually. In 2022, we plan to accept 1 student from the University of Oxford School of Medicine (Oxford, UK), and 2 students from the University of Graz (Graz, Austria), the second largest prestigious university in Austria.

In 2019, KUSM underwent a vigorous field-based evaluation survey by JACME (Japan Accreditation Council for Medical Education) and was certified as conforming to the evaluation criteria on February 1st, 2021 for another 7 years. Therefore, all the confirming/authentication procedures on the EMSWP (ECFMG Medical School Web Portal) can be completed on the website. I have been appointed as the EMSWP general managing officer by the Dean of Medicine at KUSM in September 2021. From now on, I would like to promote various certification procedures promptly and efficiently, and make it a reality of clinical training for Kurume University graduates in the US in the very near future. We have received a number of procedural questions from prospective USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) test-candidates at KUSM, and therefore we plan to summarize the points related to the USMLE step 1 and step 2ck (clinical knowledge) testes on this website and provide appropriate point-by-point advice.

Finally, I hope that the International Affairs Division of Medicine will be a bridge that facilitates joint research and exchange of opinions with overseas medical schools. Taking advantage of my 24 years of experience in the US, I will continue to make efforts to improve the global recognition of Kurume University by stabilizing the exchange student system and further revitalizing international exchange programs.

We would be extremely grateful for your continued cooperation.