Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the Japanese Pharmacological Society (JPS), it is a privilege for me to chair the 82nd Annual Meeting of the JPS, which will be held at Yokohama, in the Pacifico YOKOHAMA Conference Center, from March 16 (Mon) to 18 (Wed), 2009.
First of all, I am extremely honored to invite Dr. Oliver Smithies, a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007, as a plenary lecturer in this Annual Meeting of the JPS. Dr. Smithies is an Excellence Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U.S.A. The tentative title of his plenary lecture is “From gels to genes.”
The theme of this Annual Meeting is “Pharmacological Therapeutics Based on Pathophysiology.” All the special lectures, general presentations (oral and poster), symposia and seminars will be based on this overall theme.
It is my great pleasure, too, to invite six special lecturers; Dr. Martin C. Michel, Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Dr. Toichi Takenaka, the CEO of Astellas Pharma Inc; Dr. Hiroaki Mitsuya, Professor of Medicine, Department of Hematology at Kumamoto University and chief and principal investigator at the HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, USA; Dr. Akitomo Matsuki, Professor Emeritus at Hirosaki University, Department of Anesthesiology; Dr. Toshio Ohhashi, Professor of Physiology at Shinshu University; Dr. Colin L. Masters, Professor of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
With regard to the oral presentations, we are planning to implement the standard international procedure in which one oral presentation lasts for 15 minutes (10-minute oral presentation, 5 minute-discussion). The plan is to have approximately 100 presentations of 15 minutes duration each day, making a total of 300 presentations over the course of three days. For the poster presentations, we are planning a format in which the speaker gives an oral presentation standing in front of his or her poster. With a time frame of seven minutes (4 minute-oral presentation, 3-minute discussion), we expect to implement 200 poster presentations each day, making a total of 600 for the duration of the Annual Meeting.
With regard to symposia, we are planning 26 symposia including the Joint Symposium of the Japanese Pharmacological Society and the Japanese Society of Clinical Pharmacology which will be held in the afternoon on the first day of the congress. In addition, the Fourth “Japan-China Joint Meeting of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology” will be held on the third day of the congress.
The Annual Meeting is one of the most important activities of the JPS and represents a key part of our social contributions. Although in the IT era when the importance of the Annual Meeting as a venue for gathering information might be decreasing, the opportunity for the JPS members to meet together and strengthen the bonds of mutual friendship is highly meaningful.
As you will find, the moving images shown on the top page of this official website for the Annual Meeting depict lively scenes from the famous summer festivals around Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. Just like the participants in the Hirosaki Neputa, Aomori Nebuta and Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festivals, I hope that all participants in the Annual Meeting will engage in discussions with enthusiasm and vigor.
We look forward to welcoming you to Yokohama in March 2009.
Shigeru Motomura, M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman of the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Pharmacological Society
Professor of Pharmacology, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine