Greetings from President
Ken Yamaguchi, M.D.,Ph.D.
President
Located against a backdrop of majestic Mt. Fuji, the Shizuoka Cancer Center is blessed with a healing environment, and offers top-class cancer treatment with cutting-edge medical technology and thorough supports for patients.
In 2002, Shizuoka Prefecture opened a new comprehensive cancer center, consisting of hospital, research institute, disease management center and secretariat. The Shizuoka Cancer Center also plays an important role for the Pharma Valley Project as a core facility in collaboration with the Pharma Valley Center located within. Therefore, it should be noted that the SCC functions as a ‘new healthcare and innovation complex’ for cancer treatment, public health and medical innovation.
The Hospital, consisting of 39 divisions with 589 beds, aims to be a world leading medical center through patient-oriented cancer treatment. It features medical professionals from all over Japan, the world's most advanced proton therapy facilities and the latest medical equipment. To pursue the patient-oriented medical care, it takes a multidisciplinary approach that calls for close collaboration among doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dieticians, physical therapists and other employees. All the professionals constantly share information about patients through the most up-to-date integrated information system, which enables the hospital to create a paperless and filmless work environment.
The mission of the Disease Management Center is to support cancer patients, while it implements cancer control programs for 3.8 million citizens of Shizuoka at the same time. To support patients, the Patient Support & Inquiries, a one-stop, all-inclusive consultation center, plays a key role promoting dialogues with patients. Receiving roughly 13,000 questions and requests for advice annually, the division allows patients to discuss issues they find uncomfortable during medical care, including details about their illness or their personal concerns. They could even bring their desires to obtain second opinions there to discuss. The Patient Library(Asunaro Library) supplies patients with information about cancer under the concept of “Information Prescription”.
The Shizuoka Cancer Center Research Institute promotes R&D in the areas of multi-omics research, cancer diagnosis, immunotherapy and proton therapy, in order to develop new technologies via collaboration among the fields of medicine, nursing and medical engineering. In collaboration with the Pharma Valley Center, the Research Institute promotes the Pharma Valley Project, which aims to form healthcare clusters in the eastern part of the prefecture closely working with medical companies and universities on joint researches with them. As a research policy to promote the project, an equal partnership among industry, academia, hospital staff and researchers is shared by all those participating in the project. A world-class platform for clinical research has been established for creating next-generation medicine and diagnostics. The Research Institute also promotes other core activities; the Cancer Survivorship Research Division and the Nursing Care Research Division develop services and products that would help and support cancer patients and their families.
The Secretariat and the Management Center are composed of staff from the Shizuoka Prefecture. They work together to support all of the activities at the SCC helping cancer patients, researchers for the Pharma Valley Project and citizens in this area. The emblem of the SCC is taken from a Chinese character meaning “heart” as well as the shape of Mt. Fuji with two clouds floating above.
The reason why the emblem is taken from the character meaning “heart” is that it stands for our slogan of “heartfelt care for patients.” The heart can be the sources for the “fighting spirits of staff and patients against cancer” and the “Japanese spirit of harmony among patients, families, staff and researchers”. Thus, the Shizuoka Cancer Center offers “cure” and “care” providing high quality of life for patients. At the same time, it contributes highly to promoting health worldwide by implementing the Pharma Valley Project.
Ken Yamaguchi, M.D., Ph.D.
President
Shizuoka Cancer Center
