Greetings from Director

Japan Health Research Promotion Bureau (JH) was launched in April 2020 as a cross-functional organization that straddles the boundaries of Japan's six national centers for advanced and specialized medicine in Japan (national centers; NCs). Its purpose is to create innovation with an eye toward world-leading R&D and medical care by collecting and coordinating resources and information of the six NCs and by promoting organic and functional cooperation and collaboration while taking full advantage of the expertise and experience that individual centers have been cultivated so far.

To this end, JH is committed to accomplishing the following missions:

1. Supporting and strengthening the functions of R&D in response to new needs;
2. Supporting and strengthening R&D efforts in the fields in which the effective promotion of R&D is expected through close cooperation between the six NCs; and
3. Supporting and strengthening the application of research achievements to clinical practice in the six NCs.

JH comprises five sections of informatics platform for medical research and collaboration, collaborative research, intellectual property and legal affairs, public relations, and research training and career development, to which staff members are posted from the six NCs to work toward the achievement of these missions.

Each of the six NCs has its own research institute, where devoted efforts have been made to promote world-leading basic and translational research in its field of specialization. At the same time, the hospitals run by the NCs have been working on cutting-edge medical treatment and clinical research, thereby serving as an engine for the development of Japan's healthcare industry.

The six NCs have been tackling various diseases and other health problems with a focus on individual life stages. If high-level research conducted by individual NCs is organically coordinated, it will be able to develop a way to prevent diseases and realize a healthier and more affluent life all throughout a lifetime, or in cases of illness, develop and provide personally tailored precision medicine for patients. If clinical trials of newly developed treatment methods are conducted not only in Japan but also Asian and other foreign countries in close coordination and cooperation with hospitals of the six NCs, it will make it possible to establish a system in Japan to promptly introduce breakthrough approaches to therapy and contribute to the improvement of medical care throughout the world.

Toward this end, the six NCs have been promoting the sharing of clinical records and other data infrastructure, and collaborative research in the areas of biobanks and genomic-based therapy. JH is determined to help the six NCs facilitate research in those fields, support the launch of new collaborative research, promote the creation of a system necessary for rapid application of research results in society, and contribute to developing human resources who will play a leading role in promoting basic and clinical research in these fields. We would like to ask for your kind cooperation and support.

Kojiro Ueki
Director
Japan Health Research Promotion Bureau