The realization of personalized medicine is the greatest medical challenge of the 21st century. Through highly effective preventive medicine programs, the application of personalized medicine to preventive medicine (personalized preventive medicine) in particular is expected to contribute significantly to the resolution of problems such as reducing the incidence of disease and facilitating effective, efficient use of social security funds in rapidly aging societies.

Expectations for personalized medicine have recently intensified due to the Human Genome Project, which has unveiled virtually the entire base sequence of the human genome.1, 2 However, decoding the genome sequence alone is not useful for promoting healthcare. Personalized medicine can be offered to the public only after risk genes for diseases have been identified in large genomic cohort studies in healthy subjects, and drug development research, as well as preventive and therapeutic applied research, has been conducted. Because genomic cohort studies are applicable to a wide range of diseases, including lifestyle-related disorders, they are essential for the realization of personalized medicine, especially personalized preventive medicine.3, 4

Now, then, is the moment for various fields, such as molecular epidemiology, clinical medicine, public health, genetics, statistics, medical sociology and molecular biology, to collaborate organically toward the goal of realizing personalized medicine. However, very few leaders in these fields are capable of supervising basic research to practical application, and this is what is blocking the road to practical application. Because genomic cohort studies and the realization of personalized medicine require organic collaboration across a multitude of fields, the problem is considerably more serious than in other areas of study. For instance, the importance of genomic cohort studies as an essential step in the realization of personalized medicine is not fully recognized by many clinicians, as well as epidemiologists, genome researchers and public health-related researchers, making it extremely difficult for these researchers to collaborate organically. Under such circumstances, we will undeniably face difficulties at the application and implementation stages of the realization process.

The most effective way to solve this problem is to systematically understand how to collaborate organically among different medical fields (clinical medicine, public health, genetics, statistics, medical sociology (including medical economics, medical informatics and medical product evaluations) and molecular biology) in order to realize personalized medicine, and to continuously train and educate medical professionals, young researchers and students who can guide the entire discipline. In this way, leaders of the personalized medicine era will be produced, and specialists with the ability to lead in a number of related fields (clinical practice, public health, medical administration, medical research and drug development research) will also be fostered. Only after this will it be possible to effectively conduct a range of studies from basic research to societal contribution, and subsequently to aid in improving national health. Fostering such talented leaders can only be accomplished through training in supervisory skills and by understanding the entire discipline from the perspective of both theoretical and practical systematic education. Achieving this solely through so-called ‘classroom’ education would be difficult.

By conducting the Medical Education and Training Program through the Genomic Cohort Study, we, as the Faculty of Medicine at this institution, through the educational programs that we provide and the promotion of personalized medicine in Japan, not only aim to maintain and promote national health in the 21st century, but also to solve the various problems faced by our healthcare system, including increased social security costs.

Table 1 shows the plan of the Medical Education and Training Program through the Genomic Cohort Study. The strongest feature of this program is that both theoretical and practical education in the field of high-quality genomic cohort study is feasible. It is important for future trainees to thoroughly understand the fundamentals of large-scale genomic cohorts from both theoretical and practical perspectives in order to realize personalized medicine. At Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine, the Advanced Molecular Epidemiology Research Institute founded by the Global COE (Center of Excellence) Program is at the core of establishing a Yamagata Prefecture-wide genomic cohort study field.5 In addition, mathematical and genomic statistics specialists, who are few in number in Japan, are also a part of the Advanced Molecular Epidemiology Research Institute.6 If these fundamentals are effectively utilized in education through this program, a highly successful theoretical and practical education can be anticipated.

Table 1 Project outline
Full size table

Through this program, (1) physicians and masters/doctoral degree holders from a variety of different fields will gain a profound and systematic understanding of personalized medicine originating from genomic cohort studies; and (2) numerous specialists with leadership skills will be successively nurtured, and multiple disciplines will be supported by these specialists. Therefore, research will progress efficiently, and societal contributions such as improvement in the clinical setting and public health practices will be realized. The positive impact of the realization of personalized preventive medicine in particular is highly anticipated. Offering high-quality healthcare that complements an aging society with fewer children, a common trend among advanced nations, will become feasible. These results will not only contribute to maintaining and promoting national health in the 21st century, but they will also offer solutions to major health-care problems, such as increased social security costs attributable to the rapidly aging population.