medical science; medical field; medical department
Refers to medicine as a field or to a medical department/course, especially when distinguishing it from other specialties such as 歯科. For the academic discipline itself, 医学 is often the more general everyday term.
This university has both medical and dental departments.
He decided to go into medicine.
医科 and 歯科 are often paired or contrasted in institutional names (as in 医科歯科), but 医科 covers general medicine while 歯科 refers specifically to dentistry.
医科学 means medical science as a research discipline, whereas 医科 refers to the medical department or faculty (e.g. at a university or hospital).
A Sino-Japanese compound of 医, associated with medicine or medical treatment, and 科, meaning a department, branch, or field.