Kansai Medical University (KMU) is a private medical university in the city of Moriguchi, situated in Osaka Prefecture, a satellite town of Osaka, Japan.
Its origins can be traced back to 1928, when the Osaka Women’s Medical College was established, but it was not chartered until 1947. In the same year, College Hospital, the first KMU affiliated hospital was established, and an affiliated nursing school was established the following year.
KMU became co-educational in 1954, when it was upgraded to the status of an incorporated educational institution and was given the name it has today.
KMU’s motto and founding spirit is Jijinshinkyo, meaning ‘benevolence, compassion, and empathy’. The medical course, which aims to embody this spirit, follows a six-year curriculum, integrating the mastery of science and art. Students work in small group tutorials using patient models. In the first and second terms of the fifth year, students participate in a clinical clerkship, rotating through all clinical departments.
Today KMU has four affiliated hospitals, including KMU Kori Hospital, KMU Medical Centre, which has a Cardiovascular Centre, and KMU University Hospital, which has a Tertiary Emergency and Critical Care Centre, as well as Kansai Medical University Temmabashi General Clinic.
The Medical Safery Management Centre works to enhance the overall management of medical safety at KMU’s affiliated hospitals. The Institute for Biomedical Science conducts studies about the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of liver disease. In 2002 KMU became the first university in Japan with a postgraduate Clinical Study Training Centre. The Keihan Railway acts as a link between facilities.
