Overview

Message from the professor

We are responsible for a number of patients with various neurological diseases as a flagship hospital in the Tokai area of Japan. We seek to provide attentive treatment and care for patients according to their individual needs, and at the same time, are engaged in world-leading frontier research. In clinical care activities, we deliver advanced care corresponding to the type of neurological disorders, such as specialized outpatient clinics for dementia and motor neuron diseases. As for research, we are engaged in a wide range of activities from intensive basic research utilizing molecular biological techniques to comprehensive clinical study with cohorts. We especially focus on translational research, which applies the insights gained from our basic research to clinical care. We have conducted physician-derived clinical trials ahead of other faculties in Japan in an effort to provide our patients with new therapeutic methods as soon as possible.

In addition to the clinical and research activities, education and human resources development is also our important mission, and we proud to have provided a number of top-class neurologists in the international field.

History

Our faculty was approved as a Clinical Department of Nagoya University Hospital on April 11, 1984. Dr. Akira Takahashi was promoted to the first professorship and the Department was officially inaugurated on March 1, 1985. The Department of Neurology was established in Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine on April 21, 1991.

Although only around 30 years have passed since the establishment of our department, the history of neurology in the field of clinical care, research and education in Nagoya University is very old, dating back to Dr. Hiroshi Kawahara at Aichi Medical School in the Meiji period, which make us heir to the oldest neurology tradition in Japan. After the World War II, as the Neurology Study Group (Group 4) of the Department of Internal Medicine 1, we produced illustrious achievements in the field of clinical studies, leading the Japanese Society of Neurology. In April 1995, Dr. Gen Sobue became a new professor, to head up a new organization framework adapting to the changing times. We have been conducting cutting-edge research in certain fields, attracting attention both in and outside Japan. Furthermore, in close collaboration with related research centers and hospitals, we are now engaged in comprehensive epidemiologic studies and physician-led clinical trials, with 360 alumni (as of September 1, 2013) playing pro-active roles in neurological clinical care and research nationwide, mainly in central Japan.

Research contents

Dealing with a wide range of topics in neurological disorders, our focus is now the following, such as intensive molecular biological research, clinical studies corresponding to actual patient care, comprehensive clinical studies based on cohort establishment, translational research (physician-led trials) which integrate the results of basic and clinical studies, imaging studies using MRI, MEG and so on, peripheral nerves studies, pathological studies of muscular disorders, and development of biomarkers. Through these research experiences, one can develop career paths to become basic disease researchers, drug-discovery researchers, neuroscientists, clinical researchers, etc. One can also improve his or her clinical competency by reevaluating patient care from a higher viewpoint.

Research into elucidation of pathogenesis and therapy development

1. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
2. Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA)
3. Parkinson's disease
4. Multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD)
5. Diseases of the peripheral nervous system (e.g. chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP))
6. Inflammatory muscular diseases (e.g. polymyositis, Inclusion body myositis)
7. Dementia (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, fronto-temporal lobar degeneration (FTLD))