Alliance for Medical Education between TMDU and Partners HealthCare International, LLC.

Alliance for Medical Education between TMDU and Partners HealthCare International, LLC.

Through our work with PHI we have introduced new ideas and approaches into our curriculum, including patient-doctor relationship courses, hybrid programs integrating basic science and clinical studies, and innovative clinical clerkship programs.
TMDU has had an alliance with Harvard Medical International since 2002 for medical education; since 2012, Partners HealthCare International (PHI). One of the chief missions of this alliance has been to create a new model of medical education in Japan in order to meet the various needs and challenges we face in the 21st century.

Partnering with PHI has allowed our students and faculty access to the educational resources and expertise of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine. PHI and TMDU have organized a “leadership in education” program every year for the past 12 years that has been tailored to tackle ongoing problems or projects at TMDU. A total of 143 faculty members have participated in the programs and planned, developed, and implemented a wide variety of new learning methodologies into TMDU’s curricula. These include, but are not limited to, hybrid programs integrating basic and clinical sciences, patient-doctor courses, participatory clinical clerkship, and medical and dental integrated learning.

This alliance with PHI also gave TMDU students opportunities to participate in clinical clerkships at Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals. Since 2004, four to ten highly motivated and qualified students have been selected every year and, after six to nine months of preparatory training, have spent two to three months doing clerkships with Harvard students. Studying together with Harvard students and others from high-tier medical schools throughout the world, TMDU students have acquired sophisticated clinical skills and approaches, had hands-on learning experience of the American healthcare system, and acquired a global mindset.