Faculty of Medicine

One of our major goals in The Faculty of Medicine is to train the next generation of researchers in all disciplines of the basic medical sciences and clinical medicine. For the Medical Scientist Training Program (MDSTP), approximately 30-50 students from each class year receive high quality and intensive research training through participation in seminar-style classes and conducting research activities in basic research laboratories. The results of their research become their honors research theses, and some MDSTP students continue on to a Ph.D. course in the Graduate School. Students who want to become specialized researchers earlier are advised to look into the Ph.D.-M.D. course. In this program, after two or three years of medical education, students can go directly to the Ph.D. course in the Graduate School, and obtain a Ph.D., before finishing their M.D. training. The Clinical Research Training Program consists of students participating in lecture courses, small-group journal clubs, academic conferences and other events. By taking part in these events, students can learn the importance of clinical research in medical science and equip themselves with a clinical researcher’s fundamental approaches and ways of thinking.

Basic medical research in the Faculty of Medicine covers many areas including neuroscience, immunology, cancer and cell biology. We vigorously carry out basic research that contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms of various diseases and the establishment of new therapies. Although academic competition in these fields is highly intense, basic medical research conducted at the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Medicine is considered to be among the highest quality in the world. Numerous papers by our researchers and academic staff are published in major scientific journals such as Nature, Cell and Science. Some of our academic staff members serve as editors of these journals as well.