（President Cauce and President Tominaga）
On September 13, President Teiji Tominaga, Prof. Hideo Harigae, Executive Vice President for Medical Care and Co-Creation Strategy, and Prof. Masahiro Yamaguchi, Vice President for Education Reform and Global Engagement, visited the University of Washington, a strategic partner of Tohoku University. They met with its president, Prof. Ana Mari Cauce, and leading faculty members from the UW College of Engineering.
During their meeting, President Tominaga and President Cauce discussed the achievements of the University of Washington-Tohoku University Academic Open Space (AOS). They also agreed to further strengthen their relationship to the next level by proposing a new platform called the ‘TU-UW Strategic Collaboration Package for Global Excellence’ that ‘packages’ future collaborative strategies. The platform aims to promote multifaceted exchanges across education, research, and industry-academia collaborations by emphasizing the two fundamental pillars, ‘Academic Excellence’ and ‘Social Impact’.
To formalize this commitment, President Tominaga and President Cauce signed an updated university-level exchange agreement. In doing so, they reaffirmed its aims to inspire the next generation to foster a better global environment and to collaboratively create new innovations that benefit society.
President Tominaga also separately met with Dr. Timothy Dellit, Dean of the UW School of Medicine, and later with Prof. Anson Fatland, Assoc. Vice Provost for Innovation Strategy and Venture at CoMotion, which is the University of Washington’s incubation center. In separate meetings, they shared perspectives on best practices in their respective fields and explored potential opportunities for collaboration.
On September 12, EVP Harigae and Prof. Atsuhiro Nakagawa, Special Advisor for Co-Creation, visited the University of Washington’s hospital, the UW Medical Center, which is known as a top-class medical institution in the United States. The two professors from Tohoku University exchanged perspectives with representatives regarding innovative practices on hospital management and associated challenges.
It is hoped that this visit will create opportunities to elevate the collaborative relationship between the two universities to a higher degree.
