To all students and trainees

Thank you for visiting our website.
The history of our department dates back to 2013, when organ-specific courses were reorganized and the respiratory internal medicine groups of the then-current Second Department of General Internal Medicine and Third Department of General Internal Medicine were integrated. Professor Emeritus Junichi Kadota served as the first professor of the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and Ikuo will become the second professor from April 2024.

Respiratory medicine deals with a wide variety of pathological conditions, including respiratory infections, lung cancer, interstitial lung disease, and allergic diseases. Therefore, skills are required to manage everything from emergency diseases that require whole-body management to chronic diseases, and to provide holistic medical care that supports patients until their final moments. On the other hand, it also includes elements such as intensive care, cancer treatment, and general medicine, so it is a wide field that is open to trainee doctors who are interested in these fields but are unsure of their future direction.

In terms of education, we are focusing on creating a seamless educational system for everyone from medical students to residents and young doctors. In recent years, our course has received high praise from medical students, and we have received many requests to write books and magazines on preparation for the national medical examination. We actively encourage trainees and young doctors to give presentations at academic conferences. Over the past five years, at least one person has received the highest award or training award each year. In addition, depending on the motivation of young doctors, we recommend training for a set period in collaboration with facilities outside Oita Prefecture (Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Aso Iizuka Hospital, etc.).

We conduct clinical and basic research in the fields of infectious diseases, interstitial pneumonia, and lung cancer. In particular, we have received a large amount of public research funding for nontuberculous mycobacterial disease, and are conducting joint research with doctors at the Tuberculosis Research Institute of the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association. For doctors who have just graduated, the preparation to become a specialist seems to be a burden. In such situations, we recommend that you first propose a clinical study using existing data and learn basic research design skills, statistics, and how to write English papers. We also believe that it is very important to proceed to basic research to gain further insight into questions that arise from clinical research.

In terms of clinical practice, we provide advanced medical care for lung cancer, infectious diseases, interstitial pneumonia, etc. In addition to Oita University Hospital, we also value collaboration with affiliated hospitals such as Oita Prefectural Hospital, Oita Red Cross Hospital, Tsurumi Hospital, Beppu Medical Center, Shinbeppu Hospital, and Hetsugi Hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our department played a central role in treating severe COVID-19 cases in Oita Prefecture. We also collaborate with many academic societies and participate in various clinical trials. In addition, as an infectious disease department, we also focus on treating infectious diseases as systemic diseases that are not limited to the respiratory tract, such as HIV infection.

Although our department has a short history since its reorganization, it has made steady progress in education, research, and medical care. We have many young doctors and people from outside Oita University, and we pride ourselves on being a lively and open department. I myself am not from Oita Prefecture, but the surrounding area makes Oita Prefecture a pleasant place to live. If you are interested, please contact us.