2015 Kyoto Global Conference for Rising Public HealthResearchers (KGC) – “Aging Society and Community Health”
and international week
As reflected by its name, KGC’s main aim is to nurture and empower
early career researchers and students by serving as a platform for theexchange and sharing of ideas, lesson learned, experience, and solutions to the increasingly
challenging health problems of the 21th century. KGC is supported by the Japan Gateway Kyoto
University Top Global Program (JGP) sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan, that aims to enhance international competitiveness ofKyoto University by promoting international collaborative research projects and globalization ofeducational programs.
The event consisted of two parts: (1) 2015 Kyoto Global Conference for Rising Public
Health Researchers: Aging Society and Community Health, December 2-3, and (2) the Student
Exchange program, November 30 – December 5. The philosophy underlying the event was tofocus on young people, from young researchers to students, to create a basis for futurecollaboration through encouraging students and researchers to actively interact and createconnections.

2015 KGC
Held on December 2-3, 2015 by KUSPH, the conference counted with 17 rising publichealth researchers from different parts of the world, including 13 from well-known universities
around the globe and 4 faculty members of Kyoto University. The conference’s main focus was‘young people’, from researchers to students, the objective of the event was to create a basis andconnections for future collaboration between different institutions and its members, throughencouraging interaction between the guests from different universities, and those from Kyoto
University.

1|Page

The keynote speech on “The new
global ageing and health research agenda:
transforming health and social systems” wasdelivered by Dr. Alex Ross, Director of theWHO Centre for Health Development in Kobe,Japan (WKC), a public health policy expert
with specialization in health systems, whohas served as executive panels in various
units and projects of the WHO headquarter Geneva, led the development of WHO’s partnershippolicy, initiated numerous well-known global health financing approaches including the Global Fundto fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, etc.

At least 146 people (111 registered, 35 walk-in) participated in the conference that included
14 international speakers, 15 international students, 11 international faculty, 26 KUSPH faculty, 36
KUSPH students, 3 WHO Kobe Centre members, 1 MEXT member, 1 KU Headquarter member,
12 students or faculty of KU, and 18 undergraduate medical students. The undergraduate students
volunteered to help coordinate the operation and logistics of the conference.

Many ideas and opinions were exchanged
during these two days, as well as oral andposter presentations. Faculty members ofKyoto University’s partner universities werealso present, ending the second day with thesigning of the Letter of Intent for double degree
program between KUSPH and MUPH, and as
well as with NTUCPH.

2|Page3|Page4|PageThe poster presentation session was held for 2 days, consisting of 42 posters including 27 fromKUSPH students, 12 from invited international students and 3 from KUSPH faculty. Student posters
were voted for the Best Poster Presentation Awards and 6 winners were selected. The list of thewinners is as follows:
NameUniversity

Hiba
KUSPH
Abulgasim
Elamouri Fauzi DDP:
KUSPHCUCPHS
Koji Hara
KUSPH
Ya-Ru YangNTUCPH

Bhekumusa
LukheleJoannaReynolds

KUSPH
LSHTM

Poster title
Awareness Attitude and Capacity of Policy-makers for
Evidence-Informed Policymaking in Healthcare in Sudan: Pilot study
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Concerning HIV and SubstanceUse among Young Libyan in Post Revolution – Tripoli /Libya: aqualitative study
Correlates of Perceived Performance of "Community-Based
Integrated Care" System
Associations between Air Pollution, Open Spaceand Chronic Kidney Disease
A Comparison of Sexual History Between HIV Positive and HIV
Negative Pregnant Women in Swaziland: A Cross Sectional Study
Understanding ‘community’ in the context of a community
empowerment initiative in the UK: implications for evaluating
impacts on health and inequalities

5|PageKUSPH is committed to promoting the high school-university partnership, to nurture the future
generation of Japanese global leaders. The KGC
extends the invitation to young students of
Takatsuki Junior & Senior High School (Osaka,Japan), where it offers the opportunity for young
students to interact with international researchers
tosharpen

theirEnglish

proficiency,

communication skills, logical thinking, and enrichtheir knowledge in Global Public Health. Students
were very comfortable to converse and make questions in English. There were 9 students and 3teachers participated in the 2015 KGC.

6|PageStudent Exchange Program
A total of 12 students from 3 universities (LSHTM, MUPH, and NTUCPH) were invited to theprogram, in which they had the opportunity to share their research with KUSPH students, to present
their research projects, to attend classes specially arranged for the international students as well as
to visit laboratories and meeting faculty. As part of this program, KUSPH students were asked fortheir collaboration to provide a ‘buddy program’, which had as its ultimate goal to provide a platformfor the students to create connections and share their knowledge with their peers from otheruniversities. The program created positive “dynamism” among the KUSPH and invited students.

7|Page8|PageDecember 2 (Wednesday)
Opening session: Welcome addresses and keynote speech
09.00 - 09.10

Vice President, Kyoto University
Masao Kitano

09.10 - 09.20

Dean, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
Shinji Uemoto

09.20 - 09.30

Dean, Kyoto University School of Public Health
Shunichi Fukuhara

Keynote speech
09.30 - 10.00

The new global ageing and health research agenda: transforming health and social systems
Director, WHO Centre for Health Development, Kobe, Japan
Alex Ross-Break 15 minutes-

Session 1 – Cohort studies: For the health of young to elderly population
Session chairs: Tosiya Sato (Kyoto University) and Chang-Chuan Chan (National Taiwan University)
10.15 - 10.45

Epidemiological approach to save lives from sudden cardiac death in aging society
Taku Iwami: Kyoto University

10.45 - 11.15

The i-Share cohort project on the health of university students
Ilaria Montagni: University of Bordeaux

11.15 - 11.45

Genetic and epigenetic effects in environmental health studiesChen-yu Liu: National Taiwan University

11.45 - 12.15

The Nagahama prospective cohort for the comprehensive human bioscience(The Nagahama Study)
Yoshimitsu Takahashi: Kyoto University-Lunch 1 hour - Sandwich box

Session 2 – Poster presentation
13.15 - 14.45

Poster presentation

Session 3 – Dementia: Its socioeconomic and cultural perspectives
Session chairs: Toshiaki Furukawa (Kyoto University) and Wei J. Chen (National Taiwan University)
14.45 - 15.15

Dementia care access and experience for South Asians in the UK:
The influence of religious communities
Jemma Regan: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

15.15 - 15.45

Effects of education and race on cognitive decline: Heterogeneity in associations across studies
Alden L Gross: John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health15.45 - 16.15

The INSPIRED study of young onset dementia
Adrienne L Withall: University of New South Wales-Break 15 minutes-

Session 4 – Aging in developed settings: Trend and healthcare preparedness
Session chairs: Yuichi Imanaka (Kyoto University) and Koji Kawakami (Kyoto University)
9|Page16.30 - 17.00

Modelling and simulation for chronic and infectious diseases
Alex R Cook: National University of Singapore

17.00 - 17.30

The ageing population in Sweden – disease and mortality trends, what can we expect
for the future?
Karin Modig: Karolinska Institutet

17.30 - 18.00

Health services research for a sustainable healthcare system in Japan
Tetsuya Otsubo: Kyoto University

18.30 ~

Dinner reception

at Restaurant "La Tour", Clock Tower, Kyoto University

December 3 (Thursday)
Session 5 – Disability in the elderly: Mental, physical backgrounds and socio-economic, cultural andenvironmental perspective
Session chairs: Takeo Nakayama (Kyoto University) and Maznah Dahlui (University of Malaya)
10.00 - 10.30Health status among community-dwelling adults in urban community, Bangkok Metropolitan,
ThailandNitchaphat Khansakorn: Mahidol University

10.30 - 11.00

Chronic respiratory disease among the elderly in South Africa: any association with proximity tomine dumps
Nkosi Vusumuzi: University of Pretoria

11.00 - 11.30

The different ways of growing old in Chile
Alejandra Fuentes-García: University of Chile

11.30 - 12.00

Kuala Pilah cohort study: Profile of community-dwelling older people with disability
Farizah M Hairi: University of Malaya-Lunch 1 hour- Japanese Bento

Session 6–13.00 - 14.00

Poster presentation
Poster presentation
Voting for “Best Poster Presentation” award closes at 14.00

Session 7 – Care of elderly: Ecological contexts and perspectives
Session chairs: Kozo Matsubayashi (Kyoto University) and Kwanjai Amnatsatsue (Mahidol University)
14.00 - 14.30

A qualitative descriptive study on the alignment of care goals between older persons withmulti-morbidities, their family physicians and informal caregivers
Kerry H Kuluski: University of Toronto

14.30 - 15.00

Community participation for health and well-being to the Thai elderly
Montakarn Chuemchit: Chulalongkorn University

15.00 - 15.30

Community based medical care for elderly people in Bhutan
Ryota Sakamoto: Kyoto University-Break 15 minutes-Closing
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Panel discussion: For future collaboration in public health education and research
Moderated by Sathirakorn Pongpanich (Chulalongkorn University) andMasahiro Kihara (Kyoto University)

16.30 - 16.45

Best poster presentation award ceremony and closing
Moderated by Takeo Nakayama (Kyoto University)

Special program

17.00 – 17.30

Signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration on research andeducational activities between Kyoto University School of Public Health and:

National Taiwan University, College of Public Health
Mahidol University, Faculty of Public Health2015 KGC group photo

From left to right: Dean of Graduate School ofMedicine Prof. Uemoto, Keynote Speaker Dr.
Alex Ross Director of WHO Kobe Centre, Vice
President of Kyoto University Prof. Kitano, andHead of KUSPH-SGU International Office
Professor Kihara

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