Greetings from the President
The 97th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology will be held at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo from May 13 (Friday) to May 15 (Sunday), 2011.
The Japanese Society of Gastroenterology (JSGE) was founded in 1898 and has a history of more than 110 years. It now has a membership of over 30,000 of which 75% are gastroenterological physicians and 25% are gastroenterological surgeons. This year, we, at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, are honored to have the opportunity to organize this annual meeting, full of history and tradition, for the first time in 19 years, since the 78th Annual Meeting (President: the late Prof. Masaharu Tsuchiya) in 1992. The meeting will be held at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Nishi-Shinjuku, the same place as 19 years ago, and will be arranged as meticulously as possible within the compact space available.
We have set the main theme of this annual meeting as "Toward the Globalization of Gastroenterology in Japan -from Bench to Bedside–." Gastroenterology in Japan is at a leading level internationally, and information transmitted from this society is eagerly referred to, not only by Japanese medical professionals, but also by researchers around the world. We believe that it is important to cultivate the next generation of gastroenterologists with sufficient scientific maturity and recognition of global needs. In addition, according to the words spoken by the first dean of the School of Medicine of our university, late Prof. Shibasaburo Kitasato, we should aim "to prevent separation of departments, a long-standing abuse in the medical world, to establish close cooperation between basic and clinical medical fields, to merge all members of the school like a family, and to make an effort for profound study of this subject all together." Based on such a viewpoint, the program style has been partially modified to conduct this academic meeting in accordance with this main theme.
Taking into account the opinions of the Program Committee members, 8 symposia are designed to be held in lecture style by specialists, and 9 panel discussions are being structured so that intensive discussions become possible, and keynote lectures shall be appropriately included for each day of the meeting. In addition, 12 workshops are planned, mainly to allow young researchers to present their latest findings.
Furthermore, as part of the theme of globalization, since many foreign researchers, mainly from Asia, will attend the meeting, international sessions will also be held, with English as the spoken language. Also, sessions are planned in which many clinicians shall be encouraged to consider cases with, for example, answer pads. Traditional general oral presentations are being changed to a mini-symposium style, and discussion facilitators, in addition to 2 chairpersons, shall take part in each of the mini-symposium, so that intensive and fruitful discussions can be had.
We also plan to invite Prof. Thomas Lamont, Prof. Daniel Podolsky, Prof. Hans Clevers, Prof. Paul Moayyedi, Prof. Jan Tack and others from foreign countries.
Moreover, an open lecture for the public is planned on May 22 (Sunday) in the week after the meeting.
We sincerely thank the directors and councilors of the society and the program committee members for greatly helping us to make the plans and programs of the annual meeting. We sincerely hope that many members will attend the meeting and that the meeting will be fruitful and worthwhile.
Toshifumi Hibi
President, the 97th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology
(Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology,
Department of Internal Medicine,
Keio University School of Medicine)
