The First Department of Internal Medicine of Osaka City University was established at Abeno, Osaka in June 1948 under the first professor Toshio Oda. The specialties at that time were sports medicine, tropical medicine and related fields. The second professor Kenzo Shiota added respiratory medicine, including infectious disease, to the list of specialties, and was a pioneer who made great progress in the clinical and basic research of respiratory medicine. Through innovative organizational restructuring, the Department of Respiratory Medicine was separated from the First Department of Internal Medicine in April 2000. Kazuto Hirata was appointed as the first professor of respiratory medicine in October 2006.

Today, we are actively working on clinical and basic research to clarify the pathogenesis of inflammatory lung diseases such as bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In the oncology field, we are also working on clinical research and clinical trials for the development of new treatments using the latest anti-cancer drugs such as combination therapy, in addition to standard lung cancer treatment. Respiratory diseases such as COPD, lung cancer, pneumonia, and tuberculosis are becoming the leading cause of death in Japan due to the aging of the population and changes in disease composition. By cooperation with related departments, we will do our best to promote health.