On the 5th of September 2023, Kyushu University’s strategic partner university University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chancellor Dr. Robert J. Jones made a courtesy call to the Dean of our School of Medicine, Dr. Akashi and Director of Kyushu University Hospital Dr. Nakamura.

The courtesy call was held at the meeting room of our Kyushu University Hospital and Dr. Mark Cohen, Dean of Carle Illinois College of Medicine started the meeting by giving a short presentation about their Medicine college. He shared with us that the Carle Illinois College of Medicine was the first college in the world to create an Engineering based medical course.  
Next our dean, Dr. Akashi gave a short presentation about our School of Medicine and our Kyushu University Hospital. Dr. Akashi also talked about the main research at our School of Medicine and Dr. Masuda and Dr. Suzuki from Medical Institution of Bioregulation, gave a more in dept description about the research they are currently involved in. Our vice president, in charge of International affairs, Dr. Shimizu explained about our international affairs involvement, providing information about the number of international students at our Faculty of Medical Sciences, and the organization structure of the various offices in the Kyushu University Hospital involved in International relations. This was followed by a presentation from Dr. Koji Todaka, head of ARO Center for Clinical and Translational Research of Kyushu University Hospital who talked about the center’s activities.

After the presentation and discussion session, the guests were divided into 2 groups and one group visited the Center for Advanced Medical Innovation while the other group visited the outpatient clinic area of our Kyushu University Hospital. 
To strengthen the relationship between our two universities we plan to hold further discussions to discuss possibilities of student exchanges and sharing information and know-how related to the field of medical-engineering.