I am Kazuhiro Yoshida of the Department of Surgical Oncology at Gifu University. It gives me great honor to be appointed president of the 15th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (JSGS) at JDDW 2017, which will be held for four days from 12th (Thur.) to 15th (Sun.) October, 2017 in Fukuoka. It is a great pleasure and honor for me to be given such an important role and, at the same time, I am deeply grateful to the society’s fellow members.

JDDW is a conference hosted not only by JSGS but also by other related societies, which makes it possible for us to discuss gastroenterological diseases from cross-cutting perspectives, removing the boundaries between internal medicine and surgery, to achieve the best treatment for gastroenterological diseases. Additionally, starting from this year, all the presenters will be required to present their work in English at JSGS’s Symposium Sessions in order to pursue further internationalization.

Taking these into account, the main theme for the 15th Annual Meeting is “Inheritance and development of techniques and skills acquired from the great philosophers and geniuses from the past.” Our nation’s surgical techniques in the treatment of gastroenterological diseases are the world’s best. We owe this to the efforts of a great number of our predecessors. Without their countless hypotheses, discussions and processes of trial and error and verification, I believe we would not have progressed this far. In any endeavor, it is the persistent, often unnoticed work that is important, and real success is to be had through well-organized preparation. It also provides a gateway from which the next generation can pursue further development. It will not be too much for me to say that top-quality work is the result of “80-percent preparation and 20-percent execution.”

“Genome Medicine and Gastrointestinal Cancer” will be discussed in relation to precision medicine which will become the foundation for future cancer treatment, in the Invited Lecture and the Symposium. The themes for the respective sessions are as follows: future prospects of “Laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery” and “Validity of additional post-endoscopic treatment surgery” in the Integrated Program with internal medicine; “The current status and issues of IPNM,” “The reality and countermeasures against non-B/non-C hepatocellular carcinoma,” and “The current status and issues related to anti-viral therapy in liver transplantation” in the hepato-biliary-pancreatic field; and “The total management of internal medicine and surgery” in the field of inflammatory bowel disease.

In JSGS’s Symposium, the following themes have been selected: “Robotic surgery vs. laparoscopic surgery for GI cancer in future,” “Treatment strategy for cancer of the esophagogastric junction,” “Reconstruction after gastric cancer resection,” “Lateral lymph node dissection for advanced cancer of rectum below the peritoneal reflection,” and “Therapeutic outcome of ISR.” In the Panel Discussion, the latest treatments will be discussed based on the following themes: “Treatment for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer,” “Treatment strategy for obstructive colon cancer,” “Salvage operation for carcinoma of the esophagus,” and “New treatment strategy for Stage IV gastric cancer.”

JDDW 2017 will be held in Hakata in the beautiful autumn season, and we will try our very best to make it a fruitful conference. We look forward to seeing many of our fellow members at JDDW 2017.