Professor Emeritus Dr. Steven R. Kayser from the School of Pharmacy of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), was a visiting professor to NUSP for a month (January 5th until February 4th, 2017) and gave a series of 10 lectures and seminars.

With his years of experience in pharmacy dating back to the late 1960s, he shared a great deal of knowledge about what it means to be a pharmacist in America. Upon graduating from UCSF in 1970, he helped found the roles of practice and research from the viewpoint of a clinical pharmacist that would eventually spread throughout the United States. It was truly an honor to have such a world-famous and impressive pharmacy practitioner, researcher, and educator at NUSP.

Dr. Kayser gave lectures to our 1st-, 2nd-, and 4th-year students in their English classes and presented about the hospital at UCSF and the roles of the pharmacist in America. He also gave a special lecture to our 1st-year students about the roles of the pharmacist in organ transplants as well as a lecture to the 4th-year students about therapeutic drug monitoring. In the latter, he shared in particular about his expertise and experience in helping treat patients with blood clots. Moreover, he gave a presentation on physical assessments to students who are considering studying in a Ph.D. program in the future. In this lecture, students also got to do some hands-on tasks. He also gave a workshop at NUSP for students of all years and they had the opportunity to see what work as a managing pharmacist entails and based on the feedback from the participants, it was a real success. Dr. Kayser also visited Nihon University Itabashi Hospital and delivered a special lecture for the pharmacists working there. Though it was late at night, many pharmacists attended and asked questions and it was a successful and productive evening in many respects. When he had time off from work, Dr. Kayser was able to attend the New Year’s sumo tournament where he had a wonderful experience.