Greeting
Department of Urology, Keio University School of Medicine
I am pleased to announce that the 61st Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology (JSCO) will take place at PACIFICO Yokohama from October 19 (Thursday) to 21 (Saturday), 2023. JSCO is a long-established academic society with 17,000 members , and I am deeply grateful for the honor of serving as President of the forthcoming meeting.
The chosen theme for the 61st meeting is “Cancer care from A to Z -Work together for synergy effects-.” In recent years, we have witnessed many breakthroughs in cancer treatment, including, to name but a few: new drug discoveries; advances in surgical treatment such as robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery; development of innovative diagnostic techniques; and progress of personalized medicine such as genomic medicine.
From the perspective of cancer patients, cancer treatment is a cross-sectoral and cross-functional practice involving diverse medical professionals from many different departments, who work together to offer the best possible medical care throughout, from diagnosis to treatment. Accordingly, JSCO has a duty to strengthen its cooperative system to provide patients with seamless medical care and produce synergies. The theme of the forthcoming annual meeting reflects this belief. The term “a seamless, cross-functional practice” evokes an image of continuity of life, while “to produce synergies” is about bringing together our views on the world. I hope the annual meeting will be a valuable opportunity for us, medical professionals committed to cancer treatment as our lifework, to unite beyond specialties and reaffirm the purpose of JSCO together.
To facilitate lively discussions among professionals of different specialties, we have incorporated many symposiums and workshops in the program. I believe this cross-sectoral, cross-departmental approach across the boundaries of specialties will induce a positive “chemical reaction” and produce synergies, helping us build a platform that strongly motivates the participants.
As medical professionals with our own specialties, we take pride in our lifelong commitment to cancer treatment. But we should not work on a personal level only: instead, we should share our commitment with younger generations. While some techniques and views on the world are difficult to put into words, we will tackle this challenge in our own special way at the forthcoming annual meeting – please look forward to it!
The 61st JSCO Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with the 3rd International Congress of the Asian Oncology Society (AOS). Taking this occasion, we will organize joint symposium between JSCO and AOS under the leadership of Prof. Kazuhiro Yoshida, President of AOS and President of Gifu University, and Prof. Koji Kono, Program Chair and Professor at Fukushima Medical University. These symposiums will be open to participants free-of-charge, and we look forward to many of you participating. The theme of the 3rd AOS Congress is “Diversity and Inclusion,” and the congress poster is designed in line with the theme of the 61st JSCO Annual Meeting.
The poster design conveys the concepts of the continuity and evolution of life, as well as harmony of living. To examine these profound concepts in greater depth, we will organize “Lectures on views on the world” by inviting non-medical experts to speak about their specialties, such as art, literature, religion and traditional culture, which will largely affect the way we understand the world. We hope you find these lectures stimulating.
This will be the first time in 33 years for Keio University to host the JSCO Annual Meeting. The program was jointly developed with 18 cancer-related departments of Keio University Hospital, and we are sure the program will be fascinating for JSCO members. We encourage you to participate in the JSCO Annual Meeting in person, and look forward to seeing you in Yokohama.
