In May 1916, 450 students from Japan Medical College (now Japan Medical University) resigned en masse because of a conflict with the administration and set about trying to establish a new school by renting classrooms at the Tokyo Academy of Physics. They later set up the Tokyo Medical Teaching Establishment, which became Tokyo Isen and then Tokyo Medical University in 1946. It is now considered one of the most prestigious medical universities in Japan.
In accordance with the national policy for medical education, this private university has a six-year medical school curriculum whereby students partake in preclinical and clinical studies, which amount to a bachelor’s or graduate degree. Students are then qualified for the national medical licensing exam.
TMU also has a postgraduate school offering PhDs. There are 1,322 students and 4,171 academic and administrative staff.
Founded in 1931, the Tokyo Medical University Hospital is a tertiary care teaching hospital affiliated with TMU. It is located in Nishi Shinjuku, a new centre of Tokyo. It has 904 beds and a medical staffing body of 2,703.
Collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, TMU works to address noncommunicable diseases and mental health issues.
The WHO Collaborating Center for Health Promotion through Research and Training in Sports Medicine opened in 1991 and is working on building healthy communities and populations in Japan.
The university is located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which is a major commercial and administrative centre, which houses the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world, Shinjuku Station, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, the administration centre for the government of Tokyo.
