It is with great pleasure that I introduce myself as the newly appointed director of the International Medical Department (iMed). I took over in April this year from the previous director, Emeritus Professor Shuji Shimizu, who established iMed in 2015.

Fiscal 2020 started in a state of emergency because of COVID-19, which severely restricted our daily activities at the department. And our three centers also had to curtail some of their activities. However, some undertakings have actually been promoted because of COVID-19. For example, on the basis of its experience with telemedical education, the Telemedicine Development Center of Asia (TEMDEC) was able to support many international and domestic academic conferences in the form of Web or hybrid participation. The International Patient Support Center (IPAC) lost most of its overseas patients as a result of the pandemic, but it was able to increase its daily interpretation services for foreign patients resident in Japan. Many patients from overseas visited our hospital because they were unable to return to their home countries even though they were sick. The Overseas Exchange Center (OVEX) was able to increase its number of high-quality English-language classes for hospital staff through remotely conducted programs with downsized, diversified classes for TOEIC.

I hope that iMed is willing to undertake many new experiences and hone greater skills in this very difficult time as we take our hospital to its next stage of development. Thank you very much indeed for the support you have extended to our institution, and I look forward to continuing our fruitful working relationship.

Sincerely yours,

Naoki Nakashima, MD PhD Director, International Medical Department Kyushu University Hospital