I am Ryuzo Ueda of the Department of Medical Oncology and Immunology at Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and I am honored to serve as President of the 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association.
This year's meeting will open just as a new movement for dealing with cancer in Japan is getting into full stride. The new movement began in April 2007 with the coming into effect of a “Basic Act for Anti-cancer Measures ”, defined by 3 founding pillars: Cancer Prevention and Early Detection; Providing High Quality Cancer Healthcare for All, and; Promoting Cancer Research. Now with this level of legal binding recognition, ours becomes a national issue that immediately requires this association to act; and as President I stand ready to bear my part of this.
This year promises an unprecedented event. Fully endorsed by both boards of directors, a visionary decision was made to allow our Annual Meeting and the Annual Meeting of Japan Society of Clinical Oncology, presided by Kosei Hirakawa of the Department of Surgical Oncology at Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, to both be held in Nagoya at the same time. The Japanese Cancer Association Annual Meeting will run from the 28th until the 30th of October, and the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology will run from the 30th of October until the 1st of November; Both meetings will be coordinated as a joint symposium, highlighted by the 30th of October when both meetings will be held together. During this period, cancer researchers and people employed in the cancer treatment industry from both organizations can come together under the roof of the Nagoya Congress Center. I hold this dream that with all members in attendance, experiencing the full scope from the cornerstones of cancer research to the most advanced cancer treatment developments, we can reach an essential milestone to our future. To emphasize these intentions, we decided on the catchphrase for our 67th Annual Meeting: “Blazing a trail to the future” and the catchphrase for this joint symposium: “From cancer research to comprehensive treatment”.
During this visionary week, which has been entitled “Cancer Week in Nagoya 2008”, to communicate the concept of Healthcare for All we plan to share this chance to reflect on current and future cancer prevention and cancer treatment methods with the people of Nagoya. With support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Cancer Research Team for Priority Areas , we have organized for representatives researchers to speak with high school students around Aichi prefecture about the fascinating aspects of biology and the excitement and seriousness of medical biological research; And in doing so, we will be able to share our dreams and aspirations with the next generation. The planning for Cancer Week starts as of now, and with Association members’ and members of the public all contributing ideas, we can shape this event together. To this end, I look forward to working with you all.
Here we have set up a homepage dedicated the 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association, and we will issue up-to-date reports on preparations and developments regarding the meeting to be held in Nagoya. So please use this for first port of call enquiries. We also intend that Association members can use this portal to share ideas and opinions they wish to communicate.
With a year before the 2008 meeting opens, those of us in charge of the Tokai area for the Japanese Cancer Association are already putting all our energies together to make ready an event that fully satisfies both the medicine and the treatment sides to cancer healthcare. We are confident that you can look to this event with all due excitement and anticipation, and we thank you in advance for your gracious support.
November 2007
