Although Ukrainian biochemist Tetiana Yatsenko began her two-year stay as a postgraduate researcher at Tokyo’s Juntendo University in March, the first two months were almost entirely occupied by her efforts to help others arrive safely in Japan from her homeland, which has now endured over six months of war since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.
Alongside her research supervisor Beate Heissig, specially appointed associate professor of medical science at Juntendo, Yatsenko played a key role in helping the university set up and organize a fellowship for Ukrainian medical professionals, students and researchers as part of Juntendo University Hospital’s Clinical Observership Program.
“We mainly contacted people from the most endangered cities, from eastern, northern and southern Ukraine, especially students, to provide them the possibility to have a safe education,” she said. “We view it as a chance to exchange their experience with Japanese students and doctors, and that's how we organized participation.”
Yatsenko asked Ukrainian student medical organizations and the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine to help spread the word that Juntendo was temporarily offering a fellowship for the observership program — which provides early career doctors and students the chance to observe outpatient clinics, ward rounds, surgeries, laboratories and conferences — to Ukrainians.
With the university providing funding for flights, accommodation, tuition and a living stipend, the response was overwhelming — within the first 48-hours alone, 157 applications were submitted.
“That was amazing,” Heissig said. “The university has a clear vision of globalization, internationalization and making this place more global generally. And once they saw the initial responses pouring in, they said ‘OK, we can do this.’”
Enjoying the full support of the university and benefiting from the government’s decision to relax COVID-19 restrictions and open Japan’s borders to Ukrainian evacuees from March 2, Yatsenko and Heissig propelled the program forward with the support of the International Center at Juntendo, welcoming six medical students, nine doctors and three researchers from Ukraine, having first made the announcement on April 25.
As some of the first participants return home after the end of their three-month fellowship — back to either hospitals, universities or the front line in the nation’s east — others have had the chance to extend their stay further. Meanwhile, the last two participants are set to arrive in the coming weeks.
The process of leaving Ukraine for Japan is currently difficult. With Ukrainian airspace closed for civilian flights since the start of the Russian invasion, participants heading to Tokyo first have to cross the country’s western border into Poland before boarding a flight, most often from Warsaw.
Yatsenko herself experienced numerous difficulties prior to her arrival. After receiving her two-year postgraduate research grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, her departure was delayed — first by the COVID-19 pandemic and Japan’s border controls, and then by the outbreak of war.
“She was telling me, ‘Actually, right now I’m in the cellar, because we’ve had a bomb alarm,’” Heissig recalled. “And I’d say, ‘But you need to leave tomorrow right? Are you OK?’ There were times when myself and the other people in the office organizing her trip wondered if she could actually cross the border, especially when we didn’t hear from her for 24 hours.”
For Heissig, it was this direct interaction with a fellow scientist experiencing such conditions that prompted her to collaborate with Yatsenko in helping other researchers and medical professionals bolster their skills and training in Japan.
There was a clear desire for such a program, she said, given that among those affected by the war, there were medical professionals and students for whom it was a matter of necessity that they continue their studies — not least in order to contribute to the recovery of their country.
But there was also a clear benefit to be had on the Japanese side too.
While Japanese medical professionals can teach their Ukrainian counterparts the lessons learned from natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes, Heissig said, Ukrainian medical professionals can now impart their knowledge of how to cope with problems caused by the destruction of war.
“Those problems are broader than just the medical profession,” Yatsenko said. “I think Japan can share the experience of managing disaster problems with not only medical specialists, but also firefighters for example.”
She pointed to the decade of information exchange and cooperation on nuclear issues between Japan and Ukraine — two nations with a shared history of devastating nuclear disasters, at Fukushima and Chernobyl respectively.
“There are also other areas, the work that goes on in the shadows, where we can now share our knowledge and learn from other people on how they deal with these problems,” she said.
The value of information exchange is close to the heart of Hiroshi Mizuno, professor and chair of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Juntendo University Hospital, who is currently mentoring two Ukrainian fellowship recipients as part of the observership program.
A former medical officer in the Maritime Self-Defense Force with experience training overseas as a medical fellow at UCLA Health Plastic Surgery in Los Angeles, he hopes the arrival of Ukrainian students and doctors with practical experience of conflict might raise the awareness of war, alongside other issues, among junior doctors and students in Japan.
“Within our department, one of our policies is globalization, and not only from the academic standpoint, but also in clinical services and volunteer work,” he said.
Mizuno pointed to both his own past experience volunteering alongside other plastic surgeons in Myanmar and to his time spent as a fellow in the U.S. as examples of strong learning opportunities.
“Those are very good memories that I think show that Japan still has a representative position among Asian countries and that Japanese doctors have a lot that they can contribute,” he said.
For now, that knowledge is helping prepare young medical workers and researchers to respond to emergency conditions at home in Ukraine. But help is needed if the program is to continue.
“I think that from all sides — from the university side, from the Ukrainian side, from the participants’ side — everyone agrees it's a great product and program, and everyone wants it to continue,” Heissig said.
“But the big part is we need funding. We need private funding or governmental funding for this project, which is important long-term beyond just this war situation.
"It’s a very fruitful exchange in which both sides can really learn.”
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.