Wakayama Medical College

The University was founded as Wakayama Prefecture School of Medicine in 1945, making 2015 our 70th anniversary. When first established, the quota of students in the School of Medicine was 40, and for a long time thereafter it was 60, making us one of the smallest medical collages in the country in terms of student numbers. The quota of students in the School of Medicine has now risen to 100 and we form part of a public university corporation comprised of two Schools and a Course along with the School of Health and Nursing Science and the Midwifery Course. The School of Medicine has around 4000 graduates and we have produced talented professionals who have gone on to be active in Wakayama Prefecture, throughout Japan, and internationally. We see our roots as lying with the so-called medical saint Hanaoka Seishu, who was born in Kishu. Hanaoka Seishu performed the world's first surgery under general anesthesia using datura, and this flower is used for the school emblem, and a monumental inscription of “proper understanding of inside and out” and “study of the natural laws of living beings,” words left by him, has been placed in the campus. The mission of the School of Medicine has been said to rest on three pillars: education, research, and medical treatment. As our educational principle, we emphasize teaching and research of specialist knowledge and science, and nurturing capable physicians who are richly endowed with humanity and a high minded ethical outlook. Recently, there have also been calls for a fourth pillar of local and international contribution. The University Hospital is the main institution in Wakayama Prefecture for almost every field of medicine, for example, it is a Designated Prefectural Cancer Care Hospital, an Advanced Emergency and Critical Care Center, a Maternal and Perinatal Care Center, a Core Disaster Base Hospital. We offer advanced medical treatment to large numbers of patients with various diseases, which enables us to provide students with thorough education prior to graduation from the School of Medicine and postgraduate training. Our matching system for postgraduate clinical training keeps us among the top of our field and has garnered attention from other universities.