Nine years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.However, efforts to reconstruct areas stricken by the disaster are still underway, health and medical care has yet to be fully restored, and prolonged efforts are needed in that respect.
As part of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project (a national recovery project), Iwate Tohoku Medical Megabank is continuing its efforts to help safeguard mental and physical health and restore medical services with the cooperation and support of the local community, administrative bodies, and relevant organizations.These goals will be achieved through efforts such as large-scale health surveys of over 30,000 residents primarily in areas stricken by the disaster.In addition, Iwate Tohoku Medical Megabank and Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization established by Tohoku University will jointly work to consolidate the health and biological information graciously provided by residents into a biobank, and our organizations will proceed with various efforts to provide next-generation medical care through personalized medicine and other forms of medicine.
We will endeavor to sustain the health of local residents and further restore medical services through efforts such as follow-up health surveys, and we will strive to create medical care of the future in Iwate and provide that care to the public.Staff members of Iwate Tohoku Medical Megabank are united in our drive to achieve those aims.To that end, we ask for cooperation by local residents and for assistance from relevant bodies such as the Iwate Prefectural Government, individual municipalities, public health agencies, and the Iwate Medical Association.
Sincerely,
Makoto SASAKI, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Director,
Iwate Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization
Dean, School of Medicine
Professor, Division of Ultrahigh Field MRI,
Institute for Biomedical Sciences,
Iwate Medical University
