[1-01] Keynote Address
In my keynote speech, I would like to talk about how I became interested in the medical and health humanities and discuss what the future holds in these areas.
It has been around 50 years since I started studying medicine. I trained as a clinical fellow in internal medicine in Boston, USA, whilst at the same time studying public health at Harvard University. After returning to Japan in the mid-1980s, I was involved in medical care, education, and research in the fields of internal medicine, clinical epidemiology, and Evidence-based medicine (EBM) for around 16 years as a professor at Saga Medical University and Kyoto University. Then, in 2005, I became the president of St. Luke’s International Hospital and continue in this role to the present day.
In my role as president of St. Luke’s, I have contributed to the introduction and development of new medical treatments and care. Recently, St. Luke’s has played a leading role in Japan in the fields of postgraduate clinical training for doctors, measurement, disclosure, and improvement of quality indicators relating to medical care.
In 2017, I established a graduate school of public health at St. Luke’s, an area in which Japan lags far behind other developed countries. I then felt that the next step in my career should be to gain a fuller understanding of the Health Humanities, which is an expansion of the already well-established Medical Humanities, and to promote the dissemination of research in this field throughout Japan, both academically and among the medical community.
Art, which is the culmination of creativity and imagination, and is something that only we human beings – homo sapiens – have, reminds all people of the significance of being born and brings them a deep sense of joy in living. In addition, works of art also provide an essential person-to-person connection to those around them. These interpersonal connections are essential for maintaining good health and overcoming illness. Therefore, the potential of the Health Humanities to contribute to and improve current thinking and practice in medical care and public health is enormous, and we aim to further its development.
Moreover, I would like to strive for the development of Health Humanities in Japan not only for those people who are sick, but also to ensure that people in Japan and other countries around the world may receive better medical care and health care to help them improve their health and lead meaningful lives.