The 78th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Hematology
Kinuko Mitani
Congress President
Department of Hematology and Oncology,
Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine, Japan

　My name is Kinuko Mitani from Dokkyo Medical University. I am honored to serve as president of the 78th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Hematology. It is also my great honor to be the first female president in the 78-year history of the Society's Annual Meeting.

　The 78th Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 13 through Saturday, October 15, 2016 at the Pacifico Yokohama. Although the JSH Annual Meeting is normally held Friday through Sunday, the coming meeting will fall one day earlier on Thursday through Saturday because the venue was not available on Sunday. We insisted on Yokohama as our venue even so because Yokohama is a port town with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean and a global city open to the world. For the past 7-8 years, "internationalization" has been one of JSH’s goals. Yokohama is an appropriate symbol of our "internationalization." We realize that starting on Thursday may cause some inconvenience for our members, but we hope everyone will join us in Yokohama as we study and discuss hematology.

　Theme of the coming meeting is "Contribution of Everyone in Hematology." It has already been 15 years since I relocated from Hongo to my current position at Dokkyo Medical University. Although I have personally lacked the opportunity as a supervisor to produce leading researchers in our field, I have an outstanding medical team whose members are so proud to treat patients with hematological diseases in local communities and even design protocols of clinical trials. The conference theme reflects my desire to see even greater contributions to hematology made by everyone, including basic researchers, university hospital doctors, doctors providing healthcare to local communities, and others.

　Preparations are already underway for next year's Annual Meeting, including three special lectures and 12 symposia. Organized by the President, Special Lecture will welcome Harvard University's Dr. Pandolfi, while Presidential Symposium will address "Dysregulation of RNA in hematological malignancies" These programs are scheduled for the first afternoon together with Presidential Lecture entitled “Leukemogenesis by RUNX1-EVI1 and afterward stories”, which it will be my honor to deliver. All these presidential programs are also my homage, so to speak, to basic research. It seems to me that the number of young hematologists engaged in basic research has been falling in recent years. I sincerely hope everyone will attend from the first day onwards to hear these talks by the world's leaders in basic research. As in years past, we also plan to have ASH and EHA Special Lectures. Additionally, symposia will include joint symposia on lymphoma with ASH, and AML with EHA. Both symposia will be attended by renowned doctors recommended by ASH and EHA. We can expect there to lively discuss about WHO classifications, which are being revised next year. Asian Joint Program will invite speakers from China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, India and Singapore. In consultation with these Asian nations, we will engage in discussion of "ITP and clotting disorders" next year. We will also have a new kind of symposium, one for women doctors and researchers. We hope to hear from women doctors and researchers active in our society about their achievements and insights for younger colleagues. Since women's issues are relevant not only to women, we look forward to participation by many male doctors. By sharing these issues, we will create settings for research and medical care as well as our hematology society, where "women can shine."

　For many members, our educational lectures are the most important. The coming meeting will have three sets (two on the last afternoon) of educational lectures, for a total of 64 sessions. For important illnesses with a high frequency, we are also considering the possibility of doubling up on sessions. We are planning a diverse program with something for everyone to enjoy, from basic knowledge for beginners to presentations on the latest advances. We also plan to broadcast/replay high-demand educational lectures.

　For individual papers, in addition to reporting COI as in years past, presenters will also need to indicate whether their research has undergone an ethical review when they submit their abstracts. The "Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects" went into effect in April of this year and the Society is obligated to adhere to them. While ethical reviews will be accepted even after abstracts are submitted, advance preparation is greatly appreciated. Of course, it goes without saying that presenting at conferences is an important experience that fosters young colleagues. We look forward to meeting that gives our young colleagues the chance to grow by presenting their works.

　As in years past, we also plan to offer “Meet the Expert” as well as “Scientific Exchange Training Program (SETP)” in collaboration with ASH. Young doctors are cordially invited to apply.

　The Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Hematology is likewise an important, annual opportunity for exchange among members. We look forward to having many people in attendance at our opening ceremony planned for the first afternoon, when we will not only enjoy the opening ceremony, but also host our awards ceremony for JSH awards. To accommodate our ever-growing number of attendees in recent years, we have also reserved a larger space for our reception. Although the location is a very slight distance from the conference site, we look forward to seeing many people there. We will be joined by leading researchers from the U.S. and Europe as well as over 100 doctors from Asia to engage in active exchange and expand horizons of our young researchers and doctors in Yokohama.

October 2015