Presenting Japan Digestive Disease Week 2018 (JDDW 2018)

JDDW 2018 will be held over four days from November 1 (Thu.) to 4 (Sun.), 2018, in Kobe (at Kobe Convention Center). Convening jointly at JDDW 2018 will be the 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology (Meeting President Yoshikazu Kinoshita), the 96th Congress of the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society (Congress President Kazuo Inui), the 22nd General Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology (Meeting President Nobuyuki Enomoto), the 16th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (Meeting President Masakazu Yamamoto), and the 56th General Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening (Meeting President Yoko Saito).

This year is Japan Digestive Disease Week (JDDW)’s 26th conference. It is where researchers, physicians and medical staff representing various fields get together in order to present and discuss the updated information on both basic and clinical science. The conference is also educational in respect of sharing the latest medical knowledge. Regarding the theme sessions, we have set the current interesting themes and covered the latest topics from a wide range of gastroenterological field. As a process, each participating society cooperated by respecting one another’s characteristics, which led to the exclusion of the overlap in the themes. The following sessions will be planned respectively; seven Symposium Sessions focusing on the established topics, 11 Panel Discussions emphasizing discussion, and 28 Workshops focusing on the subjects where various researches are being carried out and remarkable advances are being witnessed. In addition, there will be six sessions in the Integrated Program, which is unique to JDDW, where presentations and discussions will be conducted on up-to-date common interest to the participating societies. JDDW has been aiming for internationalizing the conference by welcoming many overseas attendees; therefore, presentations and discussions will be made in English on nine themes in the International Session, so that international participants will have opportunities to take part in theme sessions in English at their convenience throughout the conference. Medical board system will be discussed in the Seminar on Medical Issues, which also pays attention to the current social medical issues. The programs mainly for medical staff who work with physicians daily will be also found satisfactory. Of course, since a number of general presentations will be conducted, as well, we would like you to make use of the conference to present your research result.

We expect that JDDW 2018 will be a meaningful and unforgettable conference for all those who have interests in gastroenterological field, namely researchers, physicians, medical staff, government administrators, international students who study in Japan, and physicians and researchers abroad. We look forward to welcoming as many participants as possible.

Along with the revision of the Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects, unified ethical guidelines were laid down jointly by JDDW’s five participating societies and it is stipulated that all presenters should be required to conform to the ethical guidelines when making their application. JDDW 2018 is going to be the first JDDW conference where the new ethical guidelines will be observed fully as the transition period comes to a close. We assume that the participants have come to understand the state of clinical research under the ethical guidelines at a high level, as pamphlets were prepared and the seminar was held to have new JDDW’s ethical guidelines known. It is our honor that JDDW will keep providing opportunities to present a high level of research result in terms of both scientific studies and research ethics.

Day 4 (November 4) is dedicated solely to the Educational Lectures where eight lectures will be given on the latest treatment in gastroenterology. Comprehensive educational lectures with rare themes will be available such as internal to surgical treatment, esophagus to colon, gastrointestinal tract to liver and biliary-pancreas. It is not so often that you attend lectures with these themes at each society’s own conference, but JDDW’s Educational Lecture has taken an advantage of being comprised of 5 gastroenterological societies jointly. It is worth participating even though the lectures last from 9 am to 3:40 pm. We hope that this will serve as opportunities for you to acquire the latest advances on gastroenterology as a whole.

JDDW 2018 Steering Committee

Chairperson, Yoshikazu Kinoshita

Sponsoring Societies:

60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology

President: Yoshikazu Kinoshita

96th Congress of the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society

President: Kazuo Inui

22nd General Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology

President: Nobuyuki Enomoto

16th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery

President: Masakazu Yamamoto

56th General Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening

President: Yoko Saito