Welcome Greetings

Dear colleagues,

The Japanese Circulation Society (JCS) has developed "The Five-Year Plan for Overcoming Cerebral/Cardiovascular Disease," and established the Council for Basic CardioVascular Research (BCVR) to accelerate the basic research of the cardiovascular field in Japan. This is the third scientific meeting. When we look back at these past 10 years in the cardiology field, although technical development of the cardiovascular field enables us to perform catheter ablation on patients with AF, treat structured heart disease, such as transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and Mitra-Clip to reduce mitral regurgitation, the number of publications in the basic sciences has significantly decreased. The young doctors had a tendency to enter into fields in which they can easily achieve results in the short term, while they didn’t want to enter into the basic research field which gives us big results but takes a long time. I, as one of the leaders in advancing basic science in the cardiovascular field, am seriously concerned about the current situation.

When we look around at the other scientific fields, considerable advances have been made OR realized. In the cancer field, genome analysis has become popular, and personal medicine has been applied according to the gene mutation. Immuno-oncology has achieved great success in cancer treatment by developing the PD-1 antibody, which was awarded a Nobel prize. Development of antibodies to various proteins can treat intractable diseases in not only collagen diseases but also diseases in the neurology and pulmonology fields. Image analysis using artificial intelligence (AI) can diagnose skin cancers and diabetic retinopathy more accurately than doctors. Genome editing technology such as CRISPR/Cas9 has achieved great progress to repair the mutation of the human genome, and clinical trials will be performed in the near future.　Clinical application of regenerative medicine will be performed within a couple of years to the patients with severe congestive heart failure．

JCS aspires to accelerate basic science of the cardiovascular field in Japan by organizing BCVR, develop epoch-making treatments from Japan, and contribute to the advancement of the treatment in the cardiovascular field. The third scientific meeting will be held from September 6th to 8th at Tokyo Convention Center. On the day, we will have invited lectures by well-known speakers, including speakers from overseas, as well as lectures for supporting basic research, award lectures and poster presentations. We are also planning a social gathering for all participants on the second night of the forum.

We sincerely look forward to your participation, abstract submission and hope that all of the participants will enjoy sharing the latest developments in science and the fascinating culture of Tokyo.

Keiichi Fukuda, M.D., Ph.D.

Congress Chairperson of the third BCVR
Keio University School of Medicine