Japanese Exchange

OHSU Family Medicine and Japan Association for Development of Community Medicine (JADECOM) both benefit from an international exchange program.

JADECOM residents have the opportunity to visit OHSU Family Medicine in Portland, Oregon for rotations that typically last one to two months. During their rotations JADECOM residents participate in a variety of activities including resident conferences, meetings, Faculty Development sessions, clinical observations, and rotations in rural health care centers located throughout Oregon.

Faculty

JADECOM faculty are able to visit OHSU Family Medicine for a two-week exchange. Faculty have individual meetings depending on their area of interest, attend weekly conferences and spend time in clinic / hospital with OHSU faculty and residents. 

Research fellows

Selected JADECOM faculty are able to travel OHSU Family Medicine for two years to do a research project, attend conferences, visit sites to expand their research knowledge.

JADECOM medical students are able to visit OHSU Family Medicine for a two-week exchange. JADECOM students learn fundamentals of family medicine in clinical observation in clinic / hospital settings, attend clerkship presentations / workshops with OHSU medical students, and are able to attend any other educational activities happening during their visits.

OHSU Family Medicine residents are given opportunities to visit Japan for two weeks to explore their health care system. Residents are able to observe in urban hospitals or in rural settings depending on the individual's interests. Residents usually visit Japan during JADECOM conferences or resident retreats, where residents give presentations and interact with JADECOM residents, faculty and sometimes medical students. Family medicine physician, Daisuke Yamashita, M.D. is the director of the international exchange program and the JADECOM endowed scholar.

Hideshi Kawasaki

Describe your hometown and family: My home town, Mino city, is famous for Japanese traditional paper "Mino-Washi". It was designated as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage and it will be used for paper of commendation for Olympic in Tokyo in 2020. My parents are teachers. My sister is a flight attendant. 

Describe your school or clinic: Gifu university is one of the national universities in Japan. Although it is in a prefectual capital in Gifu prefecture, it is in a rural area with many rice fields, mountains, and rivers. I like the view from canteen in our university; the autumn leaves look very beautiful every year!

What else should we know? I like singing, playing badminton, hiking and so on.

Mayo Ouchi

Describe your hometown and family: My hometown is Izumisano City, which is an hour away by train from Osaka city, the main city. My hometown is naturally rich with green. A mountain that serves as a border is well-known for its hot springs that locals love to visit. In summer, people enjoy swimming or sunbathing in a sand beach near from the city center.

When I was born, my town was very poor because the local government began constructing Kansai International Airport, but a lot has changed since then. Expansion of roads, businesses, factories and shops have started operating. However, I still think that we still have a long way to go.  

My family is only my mother and me. I am an only child. My mother is working as a civil servant in the prefecture. On weekends we spend  together as much as we can. 

Describe your school or clinic: I'm studying in a medical school called Nara Medical University. And they have an affiliated hospital, which is the largest hospital in Nara Prefecture. Our hospital is a tertiary emergency medical facility, but especially department of General Medicine is working hard for developing community medicine in Nara.
Although my university is small, there are a lot of amazing students here. Our university is gradually developing to support such kind of students. For example, Clinical English department designs optional advanced content-based classes for students who have a big motivation.

What else should we know? I have an interest in patient nutrition. When I lived with my grandparents, I had special meals as my grandfather had a chronic kidney disease. Honestly it was not tasty, but my grandmother always took a lot of time to prepare meals, which helped my grandpa avoid dialysis for the remainder of his life. Through this experience, I'm so interested in what patients tend to eat and how the patients should take care for their daily meals.

Sopak Supakul

Describe your hometown and family: Bangkok is the capital and the biggest city of Thailand. In term of tourism, Bangkok is always ranked as one of the most visited cities in the world, consequently it is famous for the medical tourism especially providing care for the foreigners. There are also many medical schools and hospitals which are mainly providing the tertiary care. About my family, we have 4 members, my parents, me, and my younger sister. Both of my parents are pharmacist and my sister is a university student majored in Social Science.  

Describe your school or clinic: Tokyo Medical and Dental Univeristy (TMDU) is a university specialised in medicine and dentistry. TMDU is considered a relatively small university, since it has 2,872 students (as of May, 2013). There are 2 university hospitals (Medicine - 753 beds and Dentistry - 60 beds and 337 chair units), Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Medical Research Institute and other Educational/Research Centers as well as Graduate/Undergraduate Schools with some state-of-the-art facilities located in 2 campuses at Yushima and Ichikawa area. 

What else should we know? Besides a study in medical school, I am interested in doing research and have been doing some basic research (regenerative medicine) and public health research (Non-communicable diseases and Aging society in developing countries) during these years. In the future, I wish to persue my career in internal medicine and continue conducting research altogeter.  

Hideshi Kawasaki

Describe your hometown and family: Now, I’m living in Manazuru town, it’s about 80km from Tokyo. Manazuru is a very small peninsular town, it’s about 7km2 and about 7,300 people lives in the town. Most of the town area is mountainous and lacks flat land, but the foot of the mountain is used as a mandarin orchard. The view from the slopes overlooking the mountains to the north and the bay to the south is very similar to the Mediterranean coast of southern France and Italy, and is called the Japanese Riviera. The population of the town has been decreasing since 1970. In 2017, it was designated as the first depopulated area in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Describe your school or clinic: There are two doctors working at Manazuru Clinic, including myself. Because there are no other large hospitals in Manazuru town, we work as a family doctor for any symptoms and diseases. In addition to the doctors, my clinic has four nurses, two occupational therapists, one radiologist, and three office workers.

What else should we know? I worked as a senior resident of Urology residency program (PGY3-6), and got a license of Urology special doctor at PGY7. I worked and learned as a Urologist until last year,

Mayo Ouchi

Describe your hometown and family: My hometown is Yokohama, a port town near by Tokyo. Yokohama is one of the biggest cities in Japan and it’s also a popular tourist spot. I lived there for 9 years until I moved to Kenya with my family. Nairobi is also my hometown, where I lived from the age of 10 to 14 due to my parent's business. After coming back to Yokohama for highschool, I came to Maebashi, Gunma where my Uniersity is. Gunma is around two hours away from Tokyo. My parents live in Tokyo, and my sister lives in Berkeley for her university’s exchange program.

Describe your school or clinic: Gunma University is a national university in Japan. There are faculty of education, faculty of social and information studies, faculty of science and technology and faculty of medicine. In the faculty of medicine, students can major in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and inspection technology. The university hospital built on the same campus. Medical students trained in the hospital from the last of the 4th year to the summer of the 6th year. Almost all of the department are in Gunma University hospital except oncology and infectious diseases. There is also general medical department in the hospital but they treat only outpatients.

What else should we know? Family medicine is my biggest interest in the medical department and I want to know more about it. I'm also interested in maternal and child health. In Japan most of the hospitals divide each disease and treatment with the department. I believe this opportunity will make me study more about not only medical knowledge but also how doctors have communication to patients with different backgrounds under consideration of family history.

Sopak Supakul

Describe your hometown and family: Bangkok is the capital and the biggest city of Thailand. In term of tourism, Bangkok is always ranked as one of the most visited cities in the world, consequently it is famous for the medical tourism especially providing care for the foreigners. There are also many medical schools and hospitals which are mainly providing the tertiary care. About my family, we have 4 members, my parents, me, and my younger sister. Both of my parents are pharmacist and my sister is a university student majored in Social Science.  

Describe your school or clinic: Tokyo Medical and Dental Univeristy (TMDU) is a university specialised in medicine and dentistry. TMDU is considered a relatively small university, since it has 2,872 students (as of May, 2013). There are 2 university hospitals (Medicine - 753 beds and Dentistry - 60 beds and 337 chair units), Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Medical Research Institute and other Educational/Research Centers as well as Graduate/Undergraduate Schools with some state-of-the-art facilities located in 2 campuses at Yushima and Ichikawa area. 

What else should we know? Besides a study in medical school, I am interested in doing research and have been doing some basic research (regenerative medicine) and public health research (Non-communicable diseases and Aging society in developing countries) during these years. In the future, I wish to persue my career in internal medicine and continue conducting research altogeter.  

Jo Miyana, M.D.

Education: I graduated medical school 2012. I joined in JADECOM at PGY4, as a senior resident of the FM/GM residency program, and will be licensed as a family doctor at PGY8 - one year from now. I am currently a resident at Tokyo-kita Medical Center in Tokyo.

Current hospital / clinic: I work at Tokyo-kita Medical Center in Tokyo. The largest department in the hospital is the general medical department.  The doctors who belong to general medical are in charge of all the patients who are admitted to the hospital, so we can learn how to treat various conditions.

Interests / hobbies: My hobbies are playing soccer and traveling abroad. When I travel, I like to travel alone. When I travel alone, I meet many new people and make friends.In September, I will visit my friend in Thailand. 

Mayu Moribe

Currently studying: My university is in the countryside of Japan. The hospital is far away from the nearest station so it's difficult to get there without a car. It's surrounded with beautiful mountains and long river, and it's easy to enjoy the scenery and traditional Japanese lifestyles.

Interests / hobbies: I like traveling around Japan and abroad. I have visited almost every prefectures in Japan and I‘ve been to the UK, France, Germany, Czezch Republic, Australia, Canada and the United States. When the weather is nice, I also enjoy spending time outdoors and hiking. 

Hideo Akagi

Hometown: Miyazaki is a middle size city with great nature. Miyazaki City is 600 square km and has 398 thousand population, where Portland City is 370 square km and has 583 thousand population. Miyazaki City locates southern part of Japan which latitude is around California in the US. Thus, it is very hot in summer. Miyazaki City is famous for its beautiful nature of both mountains and the ocean. I love to hike mountains in Miyazaki because of its natural beauty and fresh air. The ocean is a famous surfing spot and surfers visit from all over Japan. ISA World Surfing Games was hold in September 2019.

I grew up in a busy big family of 9 members. I am the 4th of 7 children. My father was a council member of Miyazaki City and my mother was a housewife. The house is always full with people, noise and smiles. I was taking care of my siblings and I come to like taking care of other people. My father passed away last July. It has been his hope that I become a good doctor and contribute to Miyazaki people as a doctor. I would like to learn many things in OHSU and bring them back to Miyazaki.

Education: My education starts from Miyazaki. I spent first 12y ears of my life in Miyazaki spending time at a public school. When I was 13 years old, I moved to a boarding school in Nagasaki prefecture. After graduating from the junior and senior high school, I entered Kyushu University Faculty of Laws, Fukuoka prefecture in 2009. I was interested in politics and I earned my bachelor of laws there. During my 4 years study in Kyushu University, I got many opportunities to go abroad. I have been to Mahidol University, Thailand as an exchange student in 2010. I was appointed as a member of students’ delegation to South Korea which was sponsored by Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I also got a chance to give a paper presentation at World Youth Leaders Forum in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. There was another presentation at a joint conference in Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. I also joined the World University Debating Championships at De La Salle University, Philippines. I was accepted University of Miyazaki Faculty of Medicine in 2015. I have been to Shanghai Jiao Tong University as an exchange student in 2017. 

Current hospital / clinic: University of Miyazaki is a national university. University of Miyazaki is consisted in 5 faculties, Education, Agriculture, Engineering, Medicine and Regional Innovation. The number of students is 5,461. University of Miyazaki is a small local university but produces some world-leading outcomes. One of the most outstanding research from University of Miyazaki is discovery of human Atrial Natriuretic Peptide(hANP), Brain Natriuretic Peptide(BNP) and Adrenomedullin(AM). University of Miyazaki has an affiliated hospital in a campus, which is Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki Hospital. The hospital has 632 beds. It accepts1,058 patients per day in average. Medical students learn clinical clerkship course there at the year of 5th and 6th. University of Miyazaki provides community medicine course cooperating with prefectural government. Department of Family Medicine and Community Health is lead by Professor Yoshimura Manabu. He hosts OHSU students and provides opportunities for us to interact with them. I hope to see OHSU students and staffs in Miyazaki in the future as well. 

Hobbies / interests: I have a wife and a daughter. My wife is from Thailand and my daughter is 10 months old. It is not easy to manage school and family tasks but I am very lucky and happy to have them both. This is one thing what I would like to see in Oregon. I am interested in how Oregon students with family deal with their situation. 
I am very interested in how the family medicine and community medicine works in Oregon. Observing a different medical culture surely gives me new ideas which I will be able to practice in the future. Please let me see what you usually do and let me obtain new points of view form Oregon. I am really looking forward to attending this program! 

Dr. Masahiro “Masa” Nishimura

Joining us this month is our new JADECOM visiting research fellow, Dr. Masahiro “Masa” Nishimura. He and his wife Miwa and daughters Nanao and Mao will be in Portland for the next two years. Masa has visited OHSU twice before, as part of a 2016 JADECOM delegation, and through a JADECOM faculty program in 2017. Dr. Masa shared the following short bio with us:

I grew up in Shikoku, in the western part of Japan. When I was in medical school in Osaka, I vaguely wanted to be a pediatrician, but after I worked in a local city hospital ER during my residency, I decided to become a "generalist." I was fascinated by the methods and ideas of generalists, and I jumped into JADECOM in Nara while I was a PGY3. I later graduated from the JADECOM Family Medicine/General Medicine (FM/GM) residency program, which included rural medicine, and received a certification as a specialized family medicine doctor in Japan.

Since then, I have spent many periods as a hospital generalist. However, I started to work at a rural clinic in 2017. Much of this work is seeing outpatients and conducting home visits… finally, I am able to focus on primary care!

I am now interested in quality improvement initiatives within the clinic. In addition to patient care, I also have a role as a vice director of the JADECOM FM/GM residency program. This is third time I have visited Oregon, and I look forward to seeing familiar faces at OHSU again.

Hiroki Nishizako

Hometown: Kaseda, Kagoshima, Japan

School: Nagasaki University School of Medicine

Brief description of your hometown and your family:

Kaseda is a rural town located in the south region of Kagoshima, Japan, with a population of about 20,000 people. There are four people in my family; my parents always give me good advice, and I have a good relationship with my brother.

Education:

2015 – present: Nagasaki University School of Medicine

Brief description of your school:

Nagasaki University encompasses nine schools, including Global Humanities & Social Sciences, Education, Economics, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, and Fisheries. Our university has a total of 7,603 students, with 1,132 of these enrolled as medical students.

Nagasaki University School of Medicine is one of the oldest medical schools in Japan; it informally began on November 12, 1857, when Dutch army surgeon Pompe van Meerdervoort gave a medical lecture in Dutch to government physician Ryojyun Matsumoto and 11 other people. This medical school became known as Igaku Denshusho, and later became the School of Medicine at Nagasaki University.

Other info:

My interests include family medicine, hiking, cycling, swimming, table tennis, mountaineering, and gardening.

Mr. Nishizako is a 5th-year medical student and will be with us August 5-16, 2019.

Kosuke Muto

School: National Defense Medical College

Brief description of your hometown and your family:

My hometown is in Akita prefecture, in northern Japan. Akita is famous for rice and sake, and for Akita dogs; Vladimir Putin (the president of Russia) and Alina Zagitova (a professional skater) both keep them as pets. Akita is a rural area, and these days the number of young people there is decreasing. There is a possibility that Akita may disappear by 2040 due to depopulation.

My family includes my father, mother, and younger sister. My father is a psychiatrist and my mother is a pediatrician. They are running a long-term care health facility in Akita prefecture, which has about 100 patients. My sister is a high school student and she will take an entrance examination for Akita Medical University.

Education:

2015 – present: National Defense Medical College

2012 – 2015: Toho High School

2009 – 2012: Toho Junior High School

Brief description of your school:

The National Defense Medical College is a six-year university-level military academy under control of the Ministry of Defense. The school’s objectives are to train future military officers who are also medical doctors and current military doctors. Students graduate with an advanced level of theory and application of medical sciences required to conduct the missions of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and acquire clinical medicine training and research capability in related fields. Students are paid a salary and a semi-annual bonus as employees of the Ministry of Defense. All students have to live in a dormitory for 6 years.

After graduation the graduates are posted to an Officer Candidate Training School in one of the three forces. They then take the national medical doctor examination. After passing the examination they take a two-year internship and are posted to Self-Defense Force hospitals and the battalions.

Other info:

  • My hobby is playing music; I play alto saxophone, guitar and harmonica.
  • I would like to major in cardiovascular medicine.
  • In March 2018, I visited The Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii. This was my first study abroad tour visiting medical sites.
  • In May 2018, I planned a medical study tour of a remote island called ‘Amacho’. On this tour, I looked around many medical facilities, clinics, senior care homes, and nursing homes, etc.

Yu Kaorashi

Hometown: Toyama, Japan

Hometown and your family: Toyama prefecture is located in the north of the Chubu region, facing the Sea of Japan. About 1 million people live in Toyama, and the fishing industry thrives there. Toyama bay is famous for amberjack fish, firefly squid, and Japanese glass shrimp. My father has retired from his career, but he still farms and takes his dog for frequent walks. My mother is a hardworking person who is always active.

Currently studying at: Oita University, Oita, Japan. Oita University is a national university in Oita, Oita Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1949, and in 2003 absorbed Oita Medical University, which was established in 1976. The university currently offers courses in economics, education, engineering, international studies, and medicine.

I am sensitive to what I eat and to new environments, so sometimes I have stomach troubles; I preventatively take herbal medicines for this. Despite these sensitivities, I am keen to be adventurous and seek out new experiences, like hiking and cooking.

Kenta Obata

Hometown: Nagoya                                        

School: Iwate Medical University

Brief description of your hometown and your family: My hometown, Nagoya is the 3rd biggest city in Japan. There are about 2,300,000 people in Nagoya. The population density there is 7,108 ppl/km^2. Nagoya is famous for Nagoya castle and Miso Katsu (Pork cutlet with miso sauce). I have one younger brother and one younger sister and parents. My aunt lives in Phoenix, Arizona.                                                          

Education: I graduated form a university, majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology. After that, I was working in Japan as a loss adjuster. After that, I got into this medical school.

Brief description of school: Iwate Medical University (IMU) is the private medical university in Morioka, Iwate. Iwate is famous for the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in 2011. IMU was established in 1897.

Other info (family, special interests, etc.): My father was a clinical laboratory technologist. My mother is a nurse. They work in the same hospital. My special interest is in family medicine.

Mami Narita

Brief description of your hometown and your family: I was born in a large family with six people, my father, mother, older sister, twin sister, me, and a younger sister. My twin sister is also in medical school. We don`t live together, but we often talk on the phone. When something bad happens, we encourage each other. She is very precious to me.

My hometown is a kind of rural city, and is located in the North of Kanto District. However, the public transportation has been developed well, so you can go to Tokyo in one hour by train. My favorite place in my hometown is Koga General Park. In my free time, I visit the park and enjoy running. In spring, I also enjoy cherry blossoms there. And the biggest event of my city is a firework festival in August. This festival is one of the largest firework festivals in Kanto, so many people visit my city for fireworks.

Brief description of school / hospital / clinic: My university consists of many departments: science, biology, economics, art, sports, and so on. As for the educational program of the department of medicine, at first, we study in the lecture hall for three and half years, and then in the hospital for one and half years. During this internship, we basically study in the university hospital. It has about 700 beds, and treats many patients with complex problems. Students take charge of some patients, and we listen to what they are suffering from. In addition, we have chances to study in municipal hospitals. During this internship, we can study very practically. After that we take classes again to prepare for the national test. In this way, we are educated to become good doctors.  

Other info (family, special interests, etc.): I am open-minded person, and I like experiencing new things. My hobby is exercising (running, volleyball, golf, skiing, snowboading, and so on), traveling abroad, cooking, taking pictures, and talking with my friends and family.

In October, the Japan Association for Development of Community Medicine made a gift which will establish a permanently-endowed professorship, one of the highest honors in academic medicine and higher education.

"These kinds of endowed positions are incredibly important for OHSU," explained senior vice president and provost, Elena Andresen, Ph.D., "for the faculty, for the University, for the students, and for research. This kind of gift is able to propel faculty forward…[it] allows them to engage in activities, and to work with students in ways that they could not otherwise do."

The scholarship is an addition to an already long-standing partnership between JADECOM and OHSU Family Medicine. Both organizations have enjoyed a strong partnership for many years, with students and faculty from both countries building educational programs and forging lifelong friendships.

Members of both groups celebrated the signing of the endowment in Portland, Oregon with a reception and the gift of a Japanese doll (Momoyama) to symbolize the sincerity of the relationship between both parties.

The endowment

At the signing, Daisuke Yamashita, M.D.was pronounced the JADECOM Endowed Scholar of Family Medicine. Dr. Yamashita first arrived at OHSU in 2006 to join the Family Medicine residency and completed his training in 2009. He currently serves as the Medical Director of the South Waterfront clinic, and has recently been a leader of OHSU's efforts to expand access to primary care for Portland's communities.

Dr. Yamashita worked closely with JADECOM founding member Takashi Yamada, M.D. prior to coming to Portland. At the time, Dr. Yamada was the president of the Japanese Academy of Family Medicine and led the young family physician group within the academy. At the endowment signing, Dr. Yamashita committed to making the exchange between OHSU and JADECOM "even more active and meaningful."

Why Japan?

The JADECOM-OHSU relationship began with a conversation between Michiyasu Yoshiara, M.D. in Japan, and Bob Taylor, M.D. at OHSU. The two physician leaders had a dream of a partnership that would benefit both organizations. And indeed, both have learned from each other to this day.

The nature of health care in Japan in unique – much of the country is made up of rural areas or fishing villages, requiring doctors to care for families across many miles. The ratio of physicians to families also means doctors must be experts in caring for all generations, with all kinds of needs. Community connections are not a luxury, they are a necessity. For that reason, explains former OHSU Family Medicine Chair, John Saultz, M.D., our job is to "figure out how to emulate the degree to which [JADECOM's] doctors and hospitals are connected to the needs of the community they serve."

Current OHSU Family Medicine Chair, Jennifer DeVoe, M.D., D.Phil., describes her first experience with the JADECOM exchange program. As one of the first OHSU residents to travel to Japan as a group, Dr. DeVoe worked with founding program member Dr. Yamada. "Dr. Yamada taught me many things about community medicine, population health, family medicine," she said, "including home visits with patients that were over 100-years-old living with their families, rounds in nursing homes, doing many procedures as well."

"It's very inspiring," Dr. DeVoe recalled, "the procedures and the competence of physicians in Japan. I have learned a great deal from our JADECOM colleagues about community medicine."

From OHSU, JADECOM has been able to strengthen the development of additional skills in primary care research and education. A theme OHSU has built upon this year in welcoming its inaugural postdoctoral fellow from JADECOM, Takahiro Mochizuki ("Mochi"), M.D. 

A celebration of friendship

In his closing remarks, Dr. Saultz perfectly summed up the nature of this venture between two parties: "I have not done anything in my career that has made me prouder than I am of the association we have with the work you've done in Japan, and to commemorate that at this stage, I think is just a wonderful tribute to that friendship."

"So, this is a different kind of philanthropy, a philanthropy that comes out of a celebration of friendship, and a sharing of information, from organizations that both can learn a great deal from each other."

Dr. John Saultz Shares Anniversary Letter

Last week, OHSU Family Medicine and the Japan Association for Development of Community Medicine celebrated 30 years of collaboration and exchange. Over the years, OHSU Family Medicine residents have traveled to Japan to explore their healthcare system and use their cultural experiences to inform their practices in the States. Likewise, Japanese residents have flown to Portland to participate in classes, meetings, clinical observations, and rotations in rural health care centers throughout Oregon. 

In honor of the occasion, a group of OHSU Family Medicine residents, faculty, and medical students flew to Japan to celebrate. John Saultz, M.D., kicked the celebration off with a heartfelt greeting, included below: 

JADECOM anniversary greeting

June 10, 2016

My colleagues from OHSU and I are honored to share this celebration with our friends from JADECOM on the occasion of your 30th anniversary. I am well aware that 30 years is a long time because OHSU's partnership with JADECOM spans over half of those 30 years. Furthermore, in three weeks, I will celebrate my own 30th anniversary of joining the faculty at OHSU. So I'd like to pay tribute tonight to both your accomplishments and to our friendship.

Friendships are strongest when they are built of a foundation of shared values. It was clear from our earliest meetings that we share a belief that successful health care is based on a strong and simultaneous commitment to service and education.

Service is the principle that drives how we deliver health care to our patients and communities. It is about caring for people now in the most efficient and effective way. It is about putting the needs of those we serve ahead of our own, thereby living up to the promises physicians have made dating back to Hypocrites.

Service is about the present; Education is focused on the future. Education is about planting seeds long before we will enjoy the shade of trees that grow from them. JADECOM and OHSU Family Medicine share a belief in serving in the present while investing in the next generation. Dr. Yoshiara and Dr. Yamada and many other JADECOM leaders over the years have planted the seeds of human potential and now a new generation is taking up their cause. They understand that education allows service to be sustained and to grow exponentially. The future is in good hands because of their efforts.

The same process is underway in our department at OHSU. I am grateful to you for allowing us the privilege of helping in this work. Both of our organizations understand that young people learn to serve by serving under the guidance of mentors in the real world of community practice. Whenever the times have been tough, it has helped to know we are not alone in these beliefs.

Over the past 30 years, both of our organizations have grown and thrived, sometimes in challenging times. Our friendship is one of the things I am proudest of in my own career and I speak for our entire faculty when I tell you that your belief in the importance of communities and your confidence in the next generation inspires us and many others around the world.

 In 1841, one of my favorite authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson, published an essay on friendship. In that essay, he stated, "The only reward of virtue is virtue;the only way to have a friend is to be one." JADECOM is built on the twin virtues of service and education, virtues that have and will continue to stand the test of time. And JADECOM is and will remain our friend because we share your belief in these virtues and because you have taught us much about what it means to be a friend. Congratulations.

Rita Aulie Travels to Japanese Primary Care Conference, Discusses OHSU's Family Medicine Interest Group

By Rita Aulie, OHSU Medical Student

This summer, I had the special opportunity of being invited to travel to Japan with OHSU Family Medicine faculty and residents for the 7th Annual Japan Primary Care Conference, where I had the chance to speak to medical students about our Family Medicine Interest Group programing. 

Family medicine has unfortunately been unpopular among medical students in Japan, with only one percent of graduates joining family medicine residencies. Consequently, students and doctors at the conference were highly interested in hearing about the reasons family medicine is attractive to students at OHSU, and strategies for building up student engagement through programs like the FMIG. 

I primarily spoke about the programing that our OHSU FMIG provides to expose students to family medicine during the pre-clinical years of medical school. In Japanese medical schools, there are four pre-clinical years and two years of clerkships. It is a high priority for them to keep the students interested in general practice engaged, motivated, and connected to their community over four years of textbook studying. At the conference, there was a half-day student-led FMIG symposium organized by Dr. Anna Tamai, where I had the opportunity to give a presentation about our OHSU FMIG and talk to many students from all over Japan about our shared passion for community medicine.

After the conference in Tokyo, we traveled to Miyazaki prefecture in the south of Japan to meet with students from a newly-founded FMIG. Under the guidance of family doctor Manabu Yoshimu and six student leaders, the Miyazaki University FMIG had grown to fifty members in only three months. Earlier in the year, I had the chance to Skype with the student leaders and talk to them about putting on FMIG workshops, so to me it felt like a happy reunion to finally meet them in person. I was constantly touched by their hospitality, generosity and enthusiasm.

In Miyazaki, I joined with two third-year medical students from the University of Hawaii to give presentations and lead small group discussions on FMIG activities. English-language classes are part of Japanese medical school curriculum, and we had the chance to participate in English classes for first-year and fourth-year students. Each of us led a small group about taking a medical history in the clinic setting. It was challenging to try to teach English and medicine at the same time, but it was the most rewarding experience for me of the whole trip. 

Scott Fields, M.D., was our faculty leader during the trip to Miyazaki, and by following in his footsteps I observed how the themes of primary care that I find so impactful and inspiring can reach students across cultures and language barriers. I am excited to stay in touch with the medical students in Tokyo and Japan and see where that inspiration takes primary care in their communities and their country.