The 32nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation
President: Toshiko Yoshida
Professor, Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke’s International University

The 32nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation (JACR) will be held for two days on July 18 (Saturday) and 19 (Sunday), 2026 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City. I am honored to be the first chairperson with a career in nursing and the first female chairperson in the 32 years’ history of the JACR Annual Meeting. Dr. Shigeru Makita, former President and Auditor of JACR, and Dr. Hiroyoshi Yokoi, Director of JACR, will serve as Vice-Chairpersons. We are grateful for the opportunity to host this prestigious meeting, and are now working hard to create an attractive program.

As of July 2025, JACR has over 16,000 members, consisting of doctors, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, clinical laboratory technicians, pharmacists, national registered dietitians, clinical psychologists, health fitness instructors and various other healthcare professionals. Due to its importance, cardiac rehabilitation involves a wide range of professionals working together, including: dentists, dental hygienists and speech therapists who help the elderly maintain their oral functions, which are important for preventing frailty; clinical engineers responsible for the operation of medical equipment for rehabilitation from the early acute phase; and care managers and certified social workers who help patients continue rehabilitation. As a broader range of patients now undergo cardiac rehabilitation, we are also required to deal with complicated cases such as patients with comorbidities of cerebral stroke and cancer. Moreover, with the emergence of new technologies and devices, including a remote cardiac rehabilitation system and AI, it is essential for us to work in collaboration with industry for our future development.

Against this backdrop, cardiac rehabilitation, as a medical practice, is currently expanding in multiple directions and evolving. That said, the core principle of cardiac rehabilitation remains unchanged: it is about supporting patients in living individually fulfilling lives by working with them and their family members. Every day, we engage in medical and healthcare practice and research, while addressing the needs of patients and their family members with an understanding of the power of cardiac rehabilitation. Thus, we adopted “We Love Cardiac Rehabilitation!” as the theme of the forthcoming meeting to emphasize our commitment to cardiac rehabilitation.

As part of our efforts to internationalize the JACR Annual Meeting, we will invite experts from Europe, the US and Asia to the forthcoming meeting, while introducing English sessions to offer opportunities for foreign participants and international students to make presentations. Therefore, some sessions will be conducted using both Japanese and English from start to finish. On a different day, we will organize a public lecture in Kanazawa City in Ishikawa Prefecture, the hometown of Dr. Hiroyoshi Yokoi and myself, praying for the early reconstruction of the area which is still damaged after the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

Currently, we are actively preparing for the 2026 JACR Annual Meeting, which is an excellent opportunity to improve Japan’s medical and healthcare services and help educate existing and future healthcare professionals.

We look forward to meeting many of you at the 2026 JACR Annual Meeting.