Visit to the University of Alberta by the incoming Dean of Pharmacy from Toho University in Japan

In the last week of August 2024, our faculty hosted a 3 day visit from Dr. Shusuke Tada, the Dean of Pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Toho University in Funabashi, Japan. He was accompanied by one of his faculty members Dr. Mizuho Takahashi, who in fact studied with University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FoPPS) in Edmonton in the early 2000s to further her clinical pharmacy education. The original agreement for this pharmacy student visitation program between Toho University and the U of A FoPPS dates back to 1987, and was initiated under the leadership of the late Dean and professor emeritus, Dr. John Bachynsky. The purpose of this current visit by incoming Dean Tada was to restart collaborative international research and pharmacy student exchange visitations after an almost 15-year hiatus of activity between our two institutions, following the retirement of faculty at both institutions.

Photo 1: The Dean of Pharmacy at Toho University, Dr. Shusuke Tada (left) and faculty member Dr. Mizuho Takahashi, during their visit to the University of Alberta and Edmonton in August 2024.

This renewal activity followed from the special trip made by our FoPPS director of International, Dr. Michael Doschak, to meet the university administration and pharmacy faculty members at Toho University in Japan for initial conversations on the resumption of reciprocal student exchanges. By chance, Dr. Doschak was in nearby Yokohama Japan during his planned attendance of the 143^rd Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (PSJ) in late March 2024. As such, in person relationships were renewed with Toho University, and Dean Tada was invited to visit the University of Alberta to renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both pharmacy schools. That official signing ceremony with our own U of A FoPPS Dean Christine Hughes took place in-person on Aug. 26, 2024, immediately after Dean Tada’s formal presentation on Pharmacy Education in Japan.

Photo 2: Renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding for pharmacy & pharmaceutical sciences education between the University of Alberta and Toho University Japan. Signatories: Dr. Christine Hughes and Dr. Shusuke Tada.

The MoU will remain in effect for the next 5 years, to facilitate annual visitations between both institutions, and the U of A FoPPS will host the initial four Toho University undergraduate pharmacy students in Edmonton for 3 weeks later this month, for them to engage with and learn about pharmacy education and community pharmacy practice by observation. On a personal note, Dr. Christine Hughes was one of our faculty members who had personally taught Dr. Mizuho Takahashi almost 20 years earlier in clinical pharmacy practice, and as such, there was a recognition of the lasting positive contributions to pharmacy education that our FoPPS international exchange programs leave as a legacy with our partner institutions in Japan and elsewhere in the world.

Founded initially as The Imperial Women’s Medical College in 1925, it was renamed Toho University in 1950 and became a co-educational institution as part of the nationwide reform of the Japanese school system.  Undergraduate enrollment is currently 4,500 students divided between the four faculties, namely: the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Nursing, as well as three graduate schools. As a partner pharmacy school in Japan, Toho University offers dynamic pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical sciences education, with notable research expertise in the discipline of Pharmacognosy, relating to the knowledge and extraction of medicinal compounds from plants and natural sources. During his March 2024 visit to the Toho University campus, Dr. Doschak was sincerely impressed by the extensive medicinal plant gardens and a greenhouse maintained by the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Toho University. That resource enables both undergraduate and graduate students to gather botanical specimens and gain experience with lab-based extraction methodologies, in order to learn more about the treatment of medical conditions using botanical strategies, including complementary and alternative medicine content derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as well as the Japanese offshoot “Kampo” medicine.