Part I: Omnibus Talk session entitled, The role and future direction of schools of public health in confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic and future public health crises, featured three distinguished speakers and a panel discussion. Dr. Ohmagari of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine shared his candid and firsthand experience in the field related to the COVID-19 response, and spoke about the importance of a public health approach and a path towards resolution. Dr. Fujimoto of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited spoke about the environment and structure of pharmaceutical R&D to address the question, "Why didn't Japan produce vaccines earlier?”. Dr. Takahashi, Dean of the St. Luke’s Graduate School of Public Health, began his presentation with a historical perspective of public health and highlighted the importance of the epidemiological approach in generating evidence for promoting the safe return of people to their daily lives. In the panel discussion moderated by Professor Onozaki, it was acknowledged that public health problems cannot be solved by healthcare professionals alone, but requires shared public health knowledge and skills across various specialists in medical sciences, economics, policy, behavioral science and other fields working cooperatively, and that there is an urgent need to develop human resources with the ability to collaborate internationally in preparation for future public health crises, such as the pandemic we face now.

Part II: Introduction to the Graduate School of Public Health included an overview of the MPH and DrPH programs, including description of the curriculum and firsthand accounts from students about their school life and extracurricular activities. In addition, a recent graduate talked about her career path after graduation. In the Q&A session at the end, faculty members answered questions from the participants.

More than 200 people registered for this event, which reminded us of the growing interest in public health, particularly under the current pandemic.

Thank you to all those who attended!