Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Research

As of April 1, 2021, the International Livestock Infectious Disease Prevention Research and Education Center has been reborn as the Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Research. The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture in 2010 prompted the International Livestock Infectious Disease Prevention Research and Education Center to conduct research and education on animal infectious diseases at veterinary universities nationwide. Over the past 10 years, we have published numerous papers on novel viruses. In the summer of 2019, just before our milestone 10-year anniversary, we decided that it was time to "shed our skin." What is needed now in infectious disease research? It was also at a time when the second wave of the new coronavirus was hitting Japan. What is needed now is research that looks to the future. Research on infectious diseases that have already occurred is important, but we should also study infectious diseases that will occur in the future. Originally, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology had a culture of establishing a new academic field called "future epidemiology" and making it useful to the world. "Future epidemiology" is an academic field that predicts infectious diseases that will appear in the future and takes proactive measures against infectious diseases that have previously been reactive, and is a registered trademark of our university. And so, in April 2021, we were able to be reborn as the "Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Research." This is where a new challenge begins. Our goal is to be recognized worldwide as a center that disseminates information on unknown viruses over the next 10 years. We will predict the next infectious disease after COVID-19 and disseminate information on countermeasures. Please look forward to our next transformation in 10 years' time.