The study of health science is a wide academic field focused on improving and maintaining the health of people. It is a comprehensive field that focuses on supporting the health of not only those sick and in need of medical care but of everyone, so that we can all enjoy good health. Meanwhile, the medical field is changing and expanding rapidly every year to meet the demands of the modern world. Science and technology are developing to meet the demand for more diversified, sophisticated, and specialized medical technology, and the medical needs of our society are changing in response to an aging population and to internationalization and the influx of emerging or re-emerging strains of infectious diseases it brings. The roles that health, medicine, and welfare need to fulfill are constantly expanding and changing.

Kumamoto University established the School of Health Sciences in April 2004 with "fostering a rich sense of humanity, high ethical standards, and a wide educational and social perspective" as our academic philosophy. Our goal is to teach students expert knowledge and techniques, while training them to be members of medical teams active in the maintenance of the health of mankind. Additionally, the Graduate School of Health Sciences (masters program) was established in April 2008 with the goal of training students to be medical professionals, educators, and researchers who are experts in leadership in the medical field with high degrees of expertise founded on high ethical standards and a respect for humanity.

In April 2010, Kumamoto University started a doctoral program in Health Sciences with "establishing and developing a framework for the academic pursuit of health sciences" as its basic philosophy. With the goal of improving and maintaining the health of people and improving the quality of the medical system within the community, it is dedicated to fostering medical professionals who act as leaders among teams of researchers or doctors and have a high degree of expertise built on a wide range of academic perspectives and specialties. In other words, we train students to be expert medical professionals or educators and researchers for institutions of higher learning.