Greetings from the Executive Director

The hospital of the National Center for Child Health and Development (NCCHD) is the only national hospital in Japan to encompass the four areas of pediatric, perinatal, obstetric, and maternal medicine and is also the largest children's hospital in Japan. The NCCHD is an academic research organization that combines the National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, which specializes in pediatric and perinatal research, with the Center for Clinical Research and Development. The mission of the NCCHD is to safeguard the health of the next generation and to provide the best clinical practice in advanced medical care to all children and mothers.

Our hospital offers pediatric care and a pediatric intensive care unit and also provides care in the specialties of obstetrics, fetal and maternal medicine, infertility treatment, drug information institution in pregnancy, psychiatry, organ transplantation, and emergency medicine among other specialties, as well as an allergy center and a cancer center. To achieve our mission, we focus on four primary goals in patient care and research. First, we prioritize medical safety to ensure the provision of high-quality medical care to our patients. Second, we conduct translational research to establish practical ways to use our clinical research findings. Third, we actively provide opportunities to our staff to develop their talents so that they can deliver the best quality of care to our patients. Fourth, we disseminate our research findings to the global medical community.

The current birth rate in Japan is at an unprecedented low. At the same time, pediatric care in Japan is undergoing a drastic change in response to the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, and the need for high-quality pediatric care is greater today. Our hospital has established itself as one of Asia's leading hospitals that specializes in pediatrics and perinatal care. From the global perspectives fostered during the past two decades, we believe that we understand well the current diversity of care within the pediatric field and recognize that the future will bring increased wisdom for the provision of care. Finally, based on our current leadership and founded on the achievements of our predecessors in NCCHD, we continue to strive to provide the excellent quality of care needed for pediatric patients with severe or rare diseases and women with high-risk pregnancies. We humbly devote ourselves to cooperation with all NCCHD staff and the aim of further developing our provision of the best care for the future.

Mureo Kasahara, MD, PhD