Overview

In this major, we aim to train human resources capable of consistent multidisciplinary care through health, medical care and welfare. Through the three fields of research mentioned above, we train professionals capable of responding to complicated environmental changes in health, medical care and welfare. As for the students’ career options after the completion of the course, they may continue to be engaged in universities, graduate schools, training institutions, research organizations, or medical institutions. As advanced professionals who share a common view, our graduates will meet the needs of the current time through multidisciplinary care and are expected to play an active role in each field.

Characteristics

Since there are only a small number of doctoral programs in health and welfare in Japan, our students will be able to conduct research that meets the needs of society.
The current situation is that only a few graduate schools have a Ph.D. program in this field and our university is one of them. Particularly in our university, we expect the students to become educators, researchers, highly specialized professionals and policy-makers, and to develop this field of study throughout the whole of society.

Curriculum focused on research and on research theses

The doctoral course is a three-year program, and the curriculum is composed of 10 required credits of which six pertain to research (academic dissertation), and is mainly focused on the writing of theses.

Flexible timetable with a small number of students

Class schedules can be determined according to the convenience of the students and the professors who attend the course; therefore, students can also take the classes from a remote location. Because classes are given in the evenings or on Saturdays, students can also work during their period of study. In the case of foreign students from overseas, they can consult with the professors and conduct research that involves both their home country and Japan, and write a thesis.

Professors from various academic disciplines providing support for research

Our graduate school has specialists who play an active role in multiple areas of specialties involved in health and welfare. Therefore, various subjects are instructed with full support of professionals from medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, nutrition, nursing, sport science, prosthetics & orthotics and assistive technology, welfare equipment technology, biomechanics, engineering, and social works.

Doctoral Degree

Doctor of Health Science (D.H.Sc)

Teaching Staff

Naoki Kodama / Professor / Ph. D. (Chair)
Brain Function Measurement, Early Diagnosis and Prevention of Dementia

Kaoru Abe / Professor / Ph. D.
Practice of shoes human science, Shoes adjustment science, Development and evaluation of functional arch support (shoe insole) and footwear, Lower extremities orthosis for hemiplegia, Foot pressure (F-scan) analysis

Shoichi Ishiura / Professor / Ph. D.
Neuroscience, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Alzheimer's Disease and Aging

Kazuo Ishigami / Professor / D. D. S., Ph. D.
Public health, Physiology, Social research method & health statistics, Community differences of lifestyle-related-diseases in Niigata prefecture, Time series analysis of social causes of suicide in Japan, Intervention study of the community program for preventing aggravation of long-term-care need

Hiromi Inaba / Professor / Ph. D., RD
Nutritional education for athlete, Study on the excessive desire for leanness

Yasuto Inukai / Associate Professor / Ph. D.
Neuromodulation in human brain, Balance function, Stroke Rehabilitation

Tatsuro Inoue / Associate Professor / Ph. D.
Geriatric Medicine, Sarcopenia, Frailty, Clinical nutrition

Nobuyuki Imai / Professor / Ph. D.
The analysis of the mechanism in mastication and swallowing, The development of the new treatment and rehabilitation for dysphagia, The relationship of oral health care and oral function, The relationship of oral function and systemic function

Toru Imamura / Professor / M. D. Ph. D.
Behavioral neurology, Clinical neuropsychology, Executive dysfunction in dementia, Diagnosis and management of dementia with Lewy bodies

Hajime Iwamori / Associate Professor / M. Sc.
Cookery, Food preparation, Experimental cookery, Meal evaluation of the elderly according to digestion capabilities

Yuko Uda / Professor / Ph. D.
Community health nursing, Home care nursing, Disaster nursing

Mutsuaki Edama / Professor / Ph. D.
Gross anatomy, Functional anatomy, Twisted structure of the human Achilles tendon, Knee and ankle function of female athlete during the menstrual cycle

Yuka Oishi / Professor / Ph. D.
Aphasiology, Neuropsychology, The development of the new treatment and rehabilitation for aphasia, alexia, agraphia

Naofumi Otsuru / Professor / Ph. D.
Pain processing in the human brain

Hideaki Onishi / Professor / Ph. D.
Sensorimotor integration in the human sensorimotor cortex -MEG and EEG study, Induction of plasticity in the human motor cortex -TMS and tDCS study, Human motor cortex oxygenation during exercise -NIRS study

Go Omori / Professor / M. D., Ph. D.
Orthopaedic surgery (knee surgery and sports medicine), Epidemiology and pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis, Motion and alignment analysis of the knee joint, Pain analysis before and after total knee arthroplasty, Epidemiology and prevention of fracture in childhood

Mineo Oyama / Professor / Ph. D.
Biomechanical study in neuromuscular function of the upper extremity, Brain research using transcranial magnetic stimulation

Taku Okabe / Special Professor

Satoshi Kasai / Professor / Ph. D.
Medical Image Analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Observer Performance Study

Daichi Kasuya / Professor / Ph. D.
Acupuncture and moxibustion, manual therapy, musculoskeletal diseases such as low back pain and leg pain, rheumatoid arthritis, facial paralysis

Go Kamada / Professor / Ph. D.
Knowledge management, Integrated care, Community-based care

Masayoshi Kubo / Professor / Sc. D.
Motor learning, Kinesiology, Research methods, Understanding of human movement control / learning using biomechanical methods, Time series analysis of standing balance, Kinematic analysis of knee in motion using the point cluster method

Keiichi Koshinaka / Professor / Ph. D.
Biochemistry, Molecular biology, Energy metabolisms in response to exercise & nutrition

Sho Kojima / Assistant Professor / Ph. D.
Neuromadulation in human by NIBS and somatosensory stimulation, somatosenosry processing in human brain

Kei Saito / Assistant Professor / Ph. D.
Somatosensory processing in human brain, Neuromodulation by transcranial and peripheral electrical stimulation, Perceptual learning

Katsuro Sato / Professor / M. D. Ph. D.
Otolaryngology, Middle ear infectious disease, Head and neck tumor, Logopedics and phoniatrics

Daisuke Sato / Professor / Ph. D.
The plasticity induction and motor learning, Sensorimotor integration in human brain during water immersion, The effects of exercise on physical and cognitive function

Toshiro Sato / Professor / Ph. D.
Health science, Quantification of relationships between health status and physical fitness in middle-aged and elderly males and females, Equations to discriminate health status based on results of physical fitness tests

Naritoshi Sato / Professor / Ph. D.
Low back pain, Effects of age-related spinal alignment and core stabilizing muscles, Myotuning approach for patients with muscular dysfunction

Junmei Sawada / Professor / Ph. D.
Bioarchaeology of prehistoric East Asia, Histomorphological analysis of osteo-remains from archaeological contexts, Anthropology, Osteoarchaeology, Zooarchaeology

Sumiya Shibata / Professor / M. D., Ph. D.
Non-invasive brain stimulation, Neuroplasticity, Clinical neurophysiology

Kenichi Shibuya / Professor / Ph. D.
Exercise physiology, especially on neural control for movements, Psychophysics concerning human cognition/perception

Hirofumi Shimojo / Assistant Professor / Ph. D.
Sports biomechanics, Exercise Epidemiology, Flow visualization around swimmer, EMG in underwater, Relationship between body mass index and physical fitness, Kinesthesia during skill enhancement.

Yoshimitsu Shimoyama / Professor / Ph. D.
Coaching of swimming, Methods of evaluating swimming performance

Koshu Sugisaki / Professor / Ph. D.
Health instructions in cooperation with schoolteachers, Development of health teaching materials, methods, and evaluation

Hiroshi Sugimoto / Professor / Ph. D.
Mental Health Nursing in public health, Sociology of Health, Community health, Health education and behavior.

Kenji Suzuki / Professor / M. D. Ph. D.

Yoshimitsu Takahashi / Professor / Ph. D.
Blood purification

Tomoya Takabayashi / Assistant Professor / Ph. D.
Foot biomecanics, Running injuries

Toru Takiguchi / Professor / Ph. D.
Epidemiology, Social research method & Health statistics, medical management, medical jurisprudence, Regional clustering analyses among prefecture in Japan using Moran’s I and LISA of medical and dental professionals such as doctor, dentist, nurse, etc.

Toru Taguchi / Professor / DSc.
Pain physiology, pathology and therapy, Peripheral and spinal mechanisms of myofascial pain and fibromyalgia, Cellular and molecular mechanisms of mechanical hyperalgesia

Yutaka Takei / Professor / EMT-P., Ph. D.
Analysis of physical demands related to EMT's activities, International comparison related to emergency medical service system

Keigo Tamakoshi / Assistant Professor / Ph. D.
Neural recovery mechanism of central nervous system diseases (stroke, Parkinson's disease, dementia) by exercise therapy

Tetsuo Tsukamoto / Professor / M. D., Ph. D.
Microbiology (Virology), Immunology of Infectious Diseases, Vaccinology, Hematology (Hematopoiesis), Viral Oncology

Atsuhiro Tsubaki / Professor / Ph. D.
Cortical oxygenation during gross motor tasks, Exercise effects for cognitive function, Cardiovascular and respiratory responses to exercise, Physical functions and physical activity in internal disorder, Age-related changes in physical functions

Kimiyo Terada / Professor / Ph. D.
International social work, Welfare sociology, Child welfare and family services

Haruo Toda / Professor / M. D., Ph. D.
Rhythm generation and propagation in the visual cortices of rodents. Cortical activity related to visually-guided dicision making or judgments, Improvement of teaching method in madical-related education by rubrics. Application of tablet PCs to psychophysics and student practice.

Kenji Nakayama / Associate Professor / Ph. D.
Clinical mass spectrometry, bioanalytical chemistry, real-time molecular diagnosis, biomarker discovery, MALDI-TOF/MS.

Takashi Nara / Professor / Ph. D.
Human evolution, Osteology

Yasuyuki Nishihara / Professor / Ph. D.
Embodied knowledge, Human resource management, What does “the ability of sport management professionals” mean?, What is the ability of a PE teacher?, What is the ability of an athlete? What abilities should a head coach have?, Cognitive science, Embodied knowledge, Training for Meister

Shinichi Noto / Professor / Ph. D.
Neuropsychology, Clinical economics, Intervention for unilateral spatial neglect and apraxia, Assessment of utilities used by the health utilities index and the EQ-5D, Cost-effectiveness analysis of rehabilitation

Tomonori Nomura / Professor / Ph. D.
The effects of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive function，Cognitive function, fall and physical activity in the elderly

Haruo Hanawa / Professor / M. D., Ph. D.
Cardiology. Sports medicine. Anemia and iron metabolism.

Yutaka Fujii / Professor / Ph. D.
Circulatory physiology, Artificial organs

Fumiatsu Maeda / Professor / Ph. D.
Pupil functions and Visual fields in Neuro-ophthalmology

Akira Magara / Professor / M. D., Ph. D.
Collaborative science in health and welfare, Rehabilitation for spinal cord injury, Database for spinal cord injury, Complication of spinal cord injury, Rehabilitation for cerebral vascular accident, Inter-professional education (IPE), Virtual case module database for IPE

Kyosuke Matsumoto / Associate Professor / Ph. D.
Principle of clinical psychology, Clinical psychology

Shota Miyaguchi / Assistant Professor / Ph. D.
Motor learning and neuromodulation in human brain, TMS and NIBS study

Toshiharu Yasaka / Professor / Ph. D.
Spinal interneurons and their circuits involved in pain and itch transmission.

Kumiko Yamaguchi / Professor / Ph. D.
Nursing Management　Gerontological Nursing

Koya Yamashiro / Professor / Ph. D.
Physiology, Neurophysiology, Exercise physiology, Plastic changes in the athlete's brain, Change detection systems in human

Yutaka Yoshioka / Professor / Ph. D.
Language acquisition in typically developmental children, Language acquisition in developmentally challenged children, Functional atriculation disorder

Toshifumi Watanabe / Professor / Ph. D.
Social work, Communitiy-based welfare