For a doctor, having a rich sense of humanity means providing medical care with the consideration to see things from the patient's standpoint, and with a sense of awe regarding life itself. At Kitasato University School of Medicine, we have a system that provides a broad education, going beyond just medical knowledge to encompass psychology, anthropology, and other disciplines as well. In order to foster a rich sense of humanity, we find it necessary to provide broad knowledge, foster close communication with instructors, and teach approaches to medicine based on what doctors do in actual medical settings. We have created a system that affords numerous opportunities for communication between students and teachers, creating an environment with class leaders for each year of study so that students can discuss their careers and livelihoods with their instructors. We have also introduced tutorial teaching with small group sizes so that students can learn how to solve problems on their own. From the fifth year onward, our program includes a Bed Side Learning program comprised of small groups with 6 to 8 students to provide clinical training conducted at Kitasato University Hospital and Kitasato University East Hospital. By seeing how doctors in the real world provide "patient-centered medical treatment" at Kitasato University Hospital and Kitasato University East Hospital, students learn what it's really like to practice medicine as a doctor, including the importance of working as a team with nurses, pharmacists, and other specialists who work at the hospital, while gaining important clinical experience.

Medicine encompasses both the applied sciences and the humanities. Thus, in order to make advancements in medicine, it is vital to take an interdisciplinary approach that promotes cooperation with a variety of different fields that relate to medicine, including not only biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering, but ethics, psychology, law, medical economics, and other disciplines as well.

The modern phenomenon of globalization has had a great effect on medicine and on medical treatment at the ground level. This can be seen in the decoding of advanced medical information that arrives in English from overseas, in the reporting of research results at overseas conferences, and in the treatment of foreign patients at Japanese hospitals. In order for our students to be active in the medical field, it is also incredibly important to adopt an attitude that considers Japanese health care from a global perspective. At Kitasato University School of Medicine, the sixth year of training includes a system that allows students to study for up to nine weeks at a university in Canada, Germany, or the US as part of our clinical clerkship curriculum. Students who participate get to see firsthand some outstanding overseas medical education systems and develop a broader perspective toward Japanese health care. Students also take English classes taught by native-speaking instructors in their third year. We have developed courses that enable students to learn how to communicate in English effectively in medical settings.

The “deadly quartet” of obesity, diabetes, smoking, and high blood pressure is responsible for a wide variety of serious illnesses today. However, being aware of the effects of lifestyle and diet, like the fact that quitting smoking will reduce one's chances of getting cancer by two-thirds, can result in less disease and enable the prevention of illness. At Kitasato University School of Medicine, we have partnered with Kanagawa Prefecture and local health care centers in community-oriented efforts at improving health and preventing illness, with our Department of Public Health and Molecular Toxicology as the center of these efforts.