Annual Report 2021
Division of Bioethics and Healthcare Law
Kenji Matsui, Tsunakuni Ikka, Haruka Nakada, Waki Toya, Akira Yanagibashi, Kaoru Tomioka, Hitomi Harada
Research activities
At the Department of Bioethics and Healthcare Law, we investigate ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) and policies regarding medical practice (including end-of-life issues), biomedical research, and public health, as well as studying research ethics education. Topics we are currently interested in are, for instance, ELSI/policies regarding clinical research involving vulnerable people and patients with rare diseases, clinical trials of unproven drugs/devices, infectious diseases such as COVID-19, disaster research, learning healthcare, regenerative medicine, medical AI (artificial intelligence), and PPI (Patient and Public Involvement). We are also developing education programs and materials for research ethics consultants.
Education
Based on the Grant by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), we provided open seminars for research ethics consultations. We had two predoctoral students who were involved in our training course on research ethics and bioethics. We also collaborated with the Research Ethics Section of the Japan Association for Bioethics, convening monthly a regular research conference on research ethics.
We also collaborated with the Research Ethics Section of the Japan Association for Bioethics, convening monthly a regular research conference on research ethics.
Future prospects
We will strengthen and expand our activities regarding research and human resources development through various, timely, and innovative ethical topics as well as legal, social, and political issues.
List of papers published in 2021
Journal
1. Takashima N, Nakamura Y, Miyagawa N, Kadota A, Tanaka-Mizuno S, Matsui K, Miura K, Ueshima H, Kita Y. Association between Stress-Coping Strategy and Functional Disability in the General Older Adult Population: The Takashima Study. Gerontology, 68:699-706, 2022
2. Matsui K, Yamamoto K, Tashiro S, Ibuki T. A systematic approach to the disclosure of genomic findings in clinical practice and research: a proposed framework with colored matrix and decision-making pathways. BMC medical ethics, 22:168, 2021
3. Matsui K, Inoue Y, Yamamoto K. Rethinking the Current Older-people-first Policy for COVID-19 Vaccination in Japan. Journal of epidemiology, 31:518-519, 2021
4. Matsui K, Inoue Y, Yanagawa H, Takano T. A Proposed Model of Core Competencies for Research Ethics Consultants. Asian bioethics review, 13:355-370, 2021
5. Matsui K, Inoue Y, Yamamoto K. SARS-CoV-2 Human Challenge Trials: Rethinking the Recruitment of Healthy Young Adults First. Ethics & human research, 43:37-41, 2021
6. Suzuki T, Nakamura Y, Doi Y, Narita A, Shimizu A, Imaeda N, Goto C, Matsui K, Kadota A, Miura K, Nakatochi M, Tanaka K, Hara M, Ikezaki H, Murata M, Takezaki T, Nishimoto D, Matsuo K, Oze I, Kuriyama N, Ozaki E, Mikami H, Nakamura Y, Watanabe M, Suzuki S, Katsuura-Kamano S, Arisawa K, Kuriki K, Momozawa Y, Kubo M, Takeuchi K, Kita Y, Wakai K. A genome-wide association study on confection consumption in a Japanese population: the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study. The British journal of nutrition, 126:1843-1851, 2021
7. Nakamura Y, Narita A, Sutoh Y, Imaeda N, Goto C, Matsui K, Takashima N, Kadota A, Miura K, Nakatochi M, Tamura T, Hishida A, Nakashima R, Ikezaki H, Hara M, Nishida Y, Takezaki T, Ibusuki R, Oze I, Ito H, Kuriyama N, Ozaki E, Mikami H, Kusakabe M, Nakagawa-Senda H, Suzuki S, Katsuura-Kamano S, Arisawa K, Kuriki K, Momozawa Y, Kubo M, Takeuchi K, Kita Y, Wakai K. A genome-wide association study on meat consumption in a Japanese population: the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort study. Journal of nutritional science, 10:e61, 2021
8. Takeuchi K, Naito M, Kawai S, Tsukamoto M, Kadomatsu Y, Kubo Y, Okada R, Nagayoshi M, Tamura T, Hishida A, Nakatochi M, Sasakabe T, Hashimoto S, Eguchi H, Momozawa Y, Ikezaki H, Murata M, Furusyo N, Tanaka K, Hara M, Nishida Y, Matsuo K, Ito H, Oze I, Mikami H, Nakamura Y, Kusakabe M, Takezaki T, Ibusuki R, Shimoshikiryo I, Suzuki S, Nishiyama T, Watanabe M, Koyama T, Ozaki E, Watanabe I, Kuriki K, Kita Y, Ueshima H, Matsui K, Arisawa K, Uemura H, Katsuura-Kamano S, Nakamura S, Narimatsu H, Hamajima N, Tanaka H, Wakai K. Study Profile of the Japan Multi-institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) Study. Journal of epidemiology, 31:660-668, 2021
9. Yanagawa, Hiroaki// Chuma, Masayuki// Takechi, Kenshi// Yagi, Kenta// Sato, Yasutaka// Kane, Chikako// Sakaguchi, Satoshi// Doi, Kaori// Inoue, Yusuke// Matsui, Kenji . An educational workshop designed for research ethics consultants to educate investigators on ethical considerations. Int J Ethics Educ, 6:87-96, 2021