Greeting from the Chairperson

From the Past into the Future:
Hosting the Last Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society
in the Heisei Period

With the super-aging of Japanese society, there has been a drastic increase in the number of morbidities and mortalities due to cardiovascular diseases, accompanied by a change in disease structure. In response, we must open up new horizons in medical care, scientific research and many other related fields, while upholding the long-held traditions of cardiovascular medicine. We have adopted “Renaissance of Cardiology for the Creation of Future Medicine” as the main theme of this meeting, with the aim of defining solution-oriented strategies and our future direction.

The program of this annual meeting has many unique features not seen in past meetings, which I would like to introduce here, as well as topics of special interest. First, unlike past meetings, the opening ceremony will be held in the afternoon of the first day. The ceremony will start with a performance by enra, a performing arts company that captured public attention with their performance for the Tokyo Olympic bid, followed by my greeting as Chairperson of the meeting, and then by a greeting by Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado. Thereafter, we will hear greetings from representatives of the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japan Medical Association and the Japan Heart Foundation. On the second day, an award ceremony will be held at which a video message by a famous actor will be shown. In the afternoon, the President’s Lecture will be delivered, followed by the presentation of the Yokohama Declaration. As speakers of the Mashimo Memorial Lecture and the Mikamo Lecture, we have invited, respectively, Dr. Kohei Miyazono, Professor at the University of Tokyo, who identified TGF-β receptors which are key for cell proliferation and differentiation and who elucidated the mechanism of intracellular signaling, and Dr. Napoleone Ferrara, Professor at the University of California, San Diego, who discovered VEGF and clarified the mechanism of vascularization. Chairperson-hosted Special Lectures will be delivered by: Dr. Takashi Kadowaki, Project Professor at the University of Tokyo and Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Japan Diabetes Society, who will speak about research on diabetes from the viewpoint of a physician scientist; and Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai, Professor at the University of Tsukuba, who will discuss the development of HAL, the world’s first robot suit designed to support the physical capabilities of the user. Other events include special lectures, invited lectures, plenary sessions and symposia, to which more than 200 leading scientists and physicians are invited. To broaden discussions, “discussers” will be assigned to late-breaking sessions and some English sessions. Feedback from participants will be collected by questionnaire surveys using answer pads in some lectures in the conventional manner, and we will also be adding a conference comment system for certain sessions that allows participants to send tweet-like comments and questions addressed to speakers via a specialized app. As part of our efforts to promote diversity, we will invite many young and female participants as well as participants from abroad to serve as session chairs and speakers, while also inviting participants from Asian countries to compete in the Doctor JCS - Asian Championship as representatives of their respective countries. With these events, the program will provide opportunities for participants to not only share research achievements, but also gain new ideas for the future.

In addition to medical personnel specialized in cardiovascular diseases, participants in the meeting will include: members of the Diet; officers of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and members of medical associations and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. Patients have been also invited to give lectures at the Special Session, “Fostering New Relationships between the Scientific Community and Patients’ Associations: Joining Efforts and Advancing Together.” At Queen’s Square YOKOHAMA located on the way to PACIFICO Yokohama from Minatomirai Station, an event will be held on March 30 and 31, 2019 to educate citizens on cardiovascular diseases and treatments. Held in cooperation with the Japan Heart Foundation, the Japan Organ Transplant Network, the AED Foundation of Japan, and the Osaka Life Support Association, this event will feature various attractive activities for all ages, such as an opportunity to perform a simulated catheterization, a program for children to learn how to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a game-like manner, and an exhibition that allows participants to learn about medical history and cardiovascular diseases by answering quizzes. I hope the family members of many participants will join these activities.

For the Fellows of the Japanese Circulation Society (FJCS), there will be an FJCS lounge in Marine Lobby on the first floor of the National Convention Hall that commands panoramic views of Yokohama Port. The names of FJCS fellows will be posted at the entrance of the lounge; I hope they will use this spacious lounge where snacks and drinks will be available at all times, whether for work or relaxation, while enjoying the view of the sea.

In response to our call for regular abstracts, a total of 3,153 abstracts were submitted, including 132 from overseas, and 2,194 were accepted. For the late-breaking sessions (LBCT/LBCS), 105 abstracts were submitted and 36 were accepted. As for the Team Medical Care Session, six abstracts were accepted from eight submitted in the symposium category, and 228 were accepted from 261 submitted for Oral and Poster presentations. At this annual meeting, a Best Poster Session is newly launched to introduce 42 outstanding posters selected from among the abstracts accepted for poster presentations.

A media room will be available where members of the media will be able to conduct post-presentation interviews with speakers in the Guidelines and Late-breaking sessions, as well as lectures of particular interest. In this way, outstanding research results can be shared widely with the public.

The long-awaited Basic Act on Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease Countermeasures was enacted during the extraordinary Diet session held in December 2018. I believe this heralds a drastic change in cardiovascular care and research in Japan, and I expect the year 2019 will mark the beginning of a new era in cardiovascular medicine. In concluding my greeting, I hope that this annual scientific meeting, which is the last one of the Heisei period, will mark the start of a voyage that links the past, present and future of cardiovascular medicine, from Yokohama to the rest of the world.