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Message from the Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
The only School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of a local governmental university in the Kansai region has arrived
Following on from the School of Medicine and the School of Health and Nursing Science, the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences was established in April 2021 as Wakayama Medical University's third school. It is the only School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of a local governmental university in the Kansai region.
The number of pharmacists per 100,000 people in Wakayama is slightly higher than the national average. Still, the regional distribution is uneven, with fewer pharmacists in the southern part of the prefecture.
I believe the arrival of the new School of Pharmaceutical Sciences will contribute to eliminating such regional disparities and to attracting and retaining appropriate people to sustain the home care and integrated community healthcare systems in this aging society.
As a medical team member
One of our goals is to train pharmacists who are equipped with the comprehensive knowledge, skills, and attitudes of a medical professional and can successfully play their roles in clinical settings.
To become a pharmacist who can play an active part at the frontline of medical care, it is necessary not only to acquire high-level practical capabilities and a wide range of specialized knowledge in the pharmaceutical sciences, but also to learn the cooperative approach and communication skills that enable them to cooperate as a member of a medical team with other medical professionals.
Wakayama Medical University has schools of Medicine, and Health and Nursing Science, as well as a university hospital that supports community healthcare with highly advanced medical treatment.
The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Wakayama Medical University focuses on developing pharmacists who will support each other's expertise and carry out their duties in a cooperative manner, by advancing cross-disciplinary education that makes the most of a comprehensive medical university's strengths.
Raising pharmacist-scientists
Another aim of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at WMU is to raise pharmacist-scientists who will be able to perform internationally.
Pharmaceutical sciences cover a wide range of fields, from basic pharmacy to social pharmacy and clinical pharmaceutical sciences. Each of these fields requires the capability to discover and solve problems from a scientific perspective.
The capacity to think scientifically is essential for both those who take the research path and those who work as pharmacists in clinical settings.
The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences structures curricula that are based on thoroughly educating students in a wide range of foundation and clinical subjects, ensuring the quality and quantity of their graduation research, to train pharmacist-scientists who have developed a research mindset.
English proficiency is indispensable in a variety of situations, such as reading and comprehending scientific papers in English and attending international conferences, to broaden horizons as a researcher.
Thus, we constantly encourage students to improve the four skills of English proficiency, reading, writing, listening, and speaking, across all the year levels.
We offer basic English and scientific English classes in the earlier years, and interactive reading sessions of academic papers in the later years.
Improving research capabilities as a comprehensive medical university
The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences campus is on the north side of Wakayama Castle.
Wakayama Medical University has also established The Center for Innovative Medicine and Science, which conducts joint research with the other two schools, on the Kimiidera Campus, where the School of Medicine and the university hospital are located.
The Center for Innovative Medicine and Science enables Wakayama Medical University to inject new energy into its drug discovery research and clinical research activities, including clinical trials, through cooperation among the schools and hospital. Besides, the center contributes to the further improvement of Wakayama Medical University’s research capabilities as a comprehensive medical university by collecting a variety of knowledge and information through joint research courses and endowed courses in collaboration with private sectors.
Adding energy to Wakayama
The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences campus is in the center of Wakayama City. Establishing a university campus, where young people gather, in the middle of the city is expected to bring liveliness to the city and to reduce the outflow of young people from Wakayama Prefecture by adding a new option to the higher education in the prefecture.
We are committed to working harder to meet the great expectations from the community, by contributing to the local societies in Wakayama Prefecture not only through development of community healthcare, but also in various other ways.
OHTA Shigeru
Dean of School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Wakayama Medical University