Department History

Our department first opened its doors with the arrival of the first professor Katsuo Seto in April 1978 as the First Department of Physiology. With the help of Assistant Professor Hideo Saito, Professor Seto made the department into an equally appealing place for both research and education. After Professor Seto became Vice President in May 1992, Professor Takashi Higuchi succeeded him as the second department chair in April 1993. With the departure of Professor Higuchi to University of Fukui Hospital in July 1997, Professor Hideto Kaba assumed position as the third department chair in December 1997. A course restructuring in April 2003 led to a name change to the Department of Integrative Physiology but later changed back to the original Department of Physiology in April 2006 with the Circulation Control Department (formerly known as Daini Physiology), changed to the subsequent Physiology Courses: Comprehensive Physiology and Circulation Control. With the retirement of Professor Kaba in April 2016, Masahiro Yamaguchi succeeded him as the fourth department chair, inheriting the research of Professor Kaba. The department researches memory, learning, links, emotions, neural plasticity, adult neurogenesis, and higher-level neural processes with a focus on olfaction.