The 29th General Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology

President: Naoya Kato
Department of Gastroenterology,
Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University

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My name is Naoya Kato from Department of Gastroenterology, Chiba University. I have been appointed as the President of the 29th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology at JDDW 2025 Kobe. It is a great honor for me to host this academic conference, which has a long history and tradition.

Treatment for viral hepatitis has changed dramatically, and we have made progress to the point where we can expect to eradicate hepatitis C and control hepatitis B. Regarding steatotic liver diseases, a new nomenclature has been proposed, MASLD, and we can expect to see new developments, such as the first approval of a treatment drug overseas. In hepatocellular carcinoma, combined immunotherapy continues to progress, and adverse event management is becoming more proficient.

However, on the other hand, there are still many unresolved issues, so-called “unmet needs”, such as the elimination of hepatitis B virus, the increase in alcohol-associated liver diseases, and the overcoming of intractable liver diseases.

Given this situation, we have chosen the theme for this conference as “Challenging Unmet Needs in Liver Diseases! We have set up main sessions on the major themes of liver diseases, and hope to actively address not only clinical but also basic issues, and we expect to see fruitful discussions on unresolved issues.

The challenge against unmet medical needs is a theme that I have been pursuing since the beginning of my career as a professor, and I am very happy and honored to be able to share this theme with doctors from all over the country.

I look forward to seeing you all in Kobe in the depths of autumn in 2025.