Presenting Japan Digestive Disease Week 2016 (JDDW 2016)

It is our pleasure to announce that JDDW 2016 will be held for four days from 3rd (Thu.) to 6th (Sun.) November, 2016 at Kobe Convention Center. This conference represents a collaboration of five societies: the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology (58th Annual Meeting, President: Kazuichi Okazaki), the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society (92nd Congress, President: Kazuma Fujimoto), the Japan Society of Hepatology (20th General Meeting, President: Tadatoshi Takayama), the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (14th Annual Meeting, President: Wataru Kimura), and the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening (54th General Meeting, President: Ryoichi Nozaki).

The period of JDDW’s scientific program has been shortened from four to three days since last year, yet we are glad to know that we have received as many abstract submissions as we did last year. The definition for Theme Session (Symposium, Panel Discussion and Workshop) was newly reviewed, and the rule for oral duration as well as presentation format was set up. Each participating society worked in cooperation in order to avoid overlapping topics. We selected the topics to ensure Theme Sessions would feature each society’s uniqueness, which covers comprehensive gastroenterological area. As for the Integrated Program where we carry out the programs on the common themes together, six up-to-date themes were chosen, taking the cooperation between the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery and gastroenterological societies into account especially. In addition, such programs as the Seminar on Medical Issues titled “Handling of subspecialty in medical board in Japan” and the Women's Committee of Japanese Gastroenterology Study Group are going to be held. The Educational Lecture, where significant lectures on various fields will be given, is now held on the fourth day independently as the schedule was changed last year (JDDW 2015).

Both presentation and discussion is conducted in English in the International Session as JDDW has been working on internationalizing the conference for the last few years. The six International Sessions are planned during JDDW 2016 so that the participants can attend English presentations every day. Asian Pacific Digestive Week 2016 (APDW 2016) is going to be held in the same venue Kobe Convention Center for the first time in nine years from 2nd (Wed.) to 5th (Sat.) November in parallel with JDDW 2016. APDW 2016’s participants are able to attend JDDW 2016 so that they will get to know more about JDDW. Therefore, JDDW has made it a rule for the presenters to prepare the presentation slides in English for the Theme Sessions and the International Poster Sessions. Furthermore, JDDW offers Travel Award Program in line with APDW’s travel grant so as to accommodate overseas participants.

We have set the rules for the session’s frames and the definitions of the Theme Sessions to achieve streamlining the program and upgrading its scientific quality. The adoption rate for the general presentations submitted from each society is set at less than 85%, and the abstracts were peer reviewed stringently. When submitting the abstracts, individuals are required not only to declare COI and meet with conventional ethics standard but also to comply with the “Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects” (effective in April, 2015) enacted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). Some may criticize us for raising the bar too high. As environment surrounding the clinical research and medical care has grown severer, JDDW, which will continue to work on internationalization, considers it essential to keep appealing to younger members of each society about the importance and scientific significance of basic and clinical research in terms of the progress of medical science and treatment. At the same time, it is necessary to encourage the mid-carrier physicians to advance further hereafter.

As it has been pushing forward internationalization, JDDW has been making and will make effort for continuous growth for the future. I would like to express my gratitude to those members of JDDW 2016 Steering Committee and each society’s Program Committee for having guided and supported me in streamlining the program and upgrading scientific quality as we respect five society’s characteristic one another. Thanks to the cooperation offered by those who involved, I am confident that you will find the program attractive. I would like to hear of how you have found JDDW 2016 and know if there is anything we could improve. I sincerely hope that all of you will take part in the conference and this will be an academically productive week to everyone.

We look forward to seeing you all in Kobe in November.

Sincerely,

The Steering Committee, JDDW 2016
Chairperson, Kazuichi Okazaki

Sponsoring Societies:

58th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology
President: Kazuichi Okazaki

92nd Congress of the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society
President: Kazuma Fujimoto

20th General Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology
President: Tadatoshi Takayama

14th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery
President: Wataru Kimura

54th General Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening
President: Ryoichi Nozaki