Kitasato University was founded in 1962 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Kitasato Institute. The University initially consisted of one school and two departments, but now it comprises seven graduate schools, seven undergraduate schools, one college, three affiliated research institutes, and four hospitals. Kitasato University School of Medicine (KUSM) was founded in 1970 as the first Japanese medical school built after World War II. Established in the wake of the student uprising that took place in Japanese universities at the end of the 1960s, KUSM introduced an innovative educational system that was a radical restructuring of the traditional medical school curriculum. This novel method combining general medical education, collaborative research, and patient care came to be known as the Kitasato System, and it had a strong influence on other academic institutions in Japan during the 1970s.