June 19, 2020
Every year on June 12, the School of Medicine and the Sanshikai (the School of Medicine alumni association) hold the Kitasato Memorial Ceremony at Kitasato Hall on the Shinanomachi Campus. The ceremony commemorates the great achievements of Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato, the first Dean of the School of Medicine and Director of the University Hospital, and is held in conjunction with the anniversary of his death on June 13.
In 1892, with the support of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato founded the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases in Shiba Park. To fulfill the wishes of Yukichi Fukuzawa, he was appointed as the first Dean of the School of Medicine, laying the foundations for the current School of Medicine and University Hospital.
The 89th Kitasato Memorial Ceremony was scheduled to be held this year, but it was canceled due to the spread of COVID-19.
Since the Sanshikai Awards (the Kitasato Award and the Kitajima Award) ceremony is usually held during the memorial ceremony, only the award ceremony was held this year on June 13 in the Sanshikai conference room.
The Kitasato Award by the Sanshikai was established in 1951 to commemorate the great achievements of Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato. In 1958, the Kitajima Award was added to commemorate Dr. Taichi Kitajima, the second Dean of the School of Medicine.
The Kitasato Award (awarded for outstanding achievements in basic research and research that contributes to clinical applications) and the Kitajima Award (awarded for outstanding achievements in clinical medicine and clinical research) are prestigious academic awards at the School of Medicine, and are given for achievements that have received international recognition.
At the award ceremony, the recipients were presented with certificates and supplementary prizes, and congratulatory speeches were delivered by Masayuki Amagai, Dean of the School of Medicine, and Junzo Takeda, President of the Sanshikai, who were in attendance. This year's recipients of the Kitasato Award and the Kitajima Award are as follows. Videos of the lectures by the award winners will be posted on the Sanshikai website.
[Award Recipients]
Kitasato Award: "Elucidation of the Maintenance Mechanism of Epidermal Homeostasis"
Ryoji Kubo (Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine)
Kitajima Award: "Development of Treatment for Inner Ear Hearing Loss Using Stem Cell Biology and Primate Models"
Masato Fujioka (Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Keio University School of Medicine)
Photo: Akiyoshi Takematsu