Abstract

Welcome Message from the Congress Chairperson The 83rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society As Congress Chairperson of the 83rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society, it is a great honor for me and my colleagues to host the coming meeting for our long-established society. The meeting will be held from Friday, March 29 to Sunday, March 31, 2019 at PACIFICO Yokohama in Yokohama City, Japan. In this super-aging society, Japan has recently been seeing dramatically increasing morbidities and mortalities due to cardiovascular diseases, as well as changing disease patterns. We cannot cope with this drastic change without reforming healthcare services, scientific research and development, and many other related aspects, while also carrying on the traditions of cardiovascular medicine. Proposing solution-oriented strategies and our future direction, the main theme will be “Renaissance of Cardiology for the Creation of Future Medicine.” Dr. Kohei Miyazono, who identified TGF-β receptors and elucidated the mechanism of intracellular signaling, from the University of Tokyo will deliver the Mashimo Memorial Lecture, and Prof. Napoleone Ferrara, who discovered VEGF and clarified the mechanism of vascularization, from UC San Diego, will give the Mikamo Lecture. The special lecture, plenary sessions, symposium, and other programs will be attended by more than 100 distinguished scientists from Japan and abroad. We are also planning to provide many audience-participatory panel discussions and educational sessions. Programs to promote personal exchanges with patients and the general public will also be launched. Meanwhile, to promote diversity, we are working to increase participants from abroad, particularly from Asian countries, and to proactively appoint young or female researchers as session chairs and speakers. The programs will not only simply announce research achievements, but also give participants opportunities to gain new ideas for future prospects. I hope this meeting 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. We look forward to receiving your presentation applications and welcoming you to Yokohama.