I am Nobuyuki Enomoto of the University of Yamanashi. I have been nominated President of the 22nd General Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology (JSH). It is truly an honor for me to be nominated to such an important role, and I would like to ask for your support and guidance for me to fulfill this role.

The theme for this year is a simple one of “Various Issues of Hepatology.” As major progress has been made in the treatment of viral hepatitis, I am hoping that the meeting will provide opportunities for active discussions on a wide diversity of issues. We have selected 10 topics for the JHS-led sessions of JDDW that cover a wide range of fields, including viral hepatitis, liver cancer, liver cirrhosis, steatohepatitis, autoimmune liver diseases, fibrosis, and regeneration. For the research presentations for each of these topics, I have taken some liberty as President to set endpoints by including the words, “Towards ...,” in the title of each topic. I hope that we can deepen discussions on how best we can use the results of the diverse and excellent research conducted by the members of our society in the above-mentioned wide-ranging topics to solve the issues we are facing today. For viral hepatitis and steatohepatitis, one of the major goals will be to prevent the conditions from eventually developing into liver cancer. The eradication of infection is also an important issue for hepatitis C. For liver cancer, we have set three goals of early case detection, local control, and extension of the survival time for advanced cancer. For liver cirrhosis, improvement of quality of life and vital prognosis has been selected. For fibrosis and regeneration, the prospect for repair of liver is the selected goal. For hepatitis and liver cancer, we are planning to have invited lectures by overseas presenters. During JDDW, the participating societies will also organize the International Session. The JSH will have a session on the “Current and next problems in hepatitis and HCC.” We are hoping that this session will provide an opportunity for exchange with the overseas presenters of the latest information about the situation and future prospect in each country. For the Integrated Program of the JDDW, the selected theme of the session that JSH is responsible for is the “diagnosis and treatment algorithm of liver cancer.” We are planning to have a mobile data analysis system that enables the audience to join in the discussion from their mobile devices. The topic of this session is future diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer based on the progress made, among others, in the control of hepatitis viruses, and we look forward to your participation in the event. Of course, the poster presentations are just as important as the theme sessions. The poster session provides a gateway for future development, particularly of young doctors, and we hope that many of you will apply.

I hope to do my best to provide a venue for many wonderful presentations and to make the meeting a fruitful one for all participants.