Clinical epidemiology, which has made remarkable progress since the 1980s, is an academic field in which researchers conduct clinical studies on various questions derived from the clinical practice, with appropriate epidemiological study design. Moreover, pharmacoepidemiology was established in the U.S. in 1980s to cover clinical epidemiology and clinical pharmacy. The research fields have expanded to outcomes research on the effects and side-effects of pharmaceuticals and biologics; economic research to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of medical treatment; and regulatory science to evaluate safety and the effects of pharmaceicals, medical devices, and diagnosis. In spite of its extremely important value, the number of researchers is too few and the research projects are not very much supported from the government funds in Japan, we strongly feel the need to promote academic activities and recruit the range of researchers to the field.

Our research group is very uniquely formed with researchers and students with a broad range of backgrounds. Various research projects are conducted based on the research questions from researchers clinical or working experiences, such as outcomes research in clinical epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology, health technology assessment (HTA) research on cost-effectiveness of pharmaceuticals or clinical practices, and regulatory science research to evaluate safety and the effects of medicines and medical devices on development and post-market. By conducting various research and learning from other researches, we often have a forefeeling that an entirely new research field is being forged, which may incubate a new concept of value that no one ever imagined. Here, we are waiting for graduate students and young researchers who would like to expand a new medical research fields for the future health care, society, industry, and health policy.