I am Dr. Hideki Ohdan, Department of Gastroenterological and Transplant Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University. I will be hosting the 21st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (JSGS) at JDDW 2023. It is a great honor and a great responsibility for me to be in charge of the annual meeting of the JSGS in the unique academic community that actively addresses issues that integrate the fields of gastroenterology.

This year's integrated program will cover a variety of interdisciplinary topics, such as "The Recent Attention on the Relationship between Obesity and Digestive Diseases," "The Role of Bioinformatics in Digestive Disease Medicine in the Post-Genomic Era," and "Collaboration between Endoscopic Surgery and Surgical Treatment. The main topic session will be an in-depth discussion of hot topics such as the indications for robot-assisted surgery, which is becoming remarkably popular, and the significance of extended surgery with revascularization in the midst of daily advances in cancer drug therapy.

All members of our department will work diligently in collaboration with the preparatory committee members of the five academic societies to make JDDW2023 a meaningful scientific meeting for everyone who will attend. I hope that the confusion caused by coronavirus will end as soon as possible and that we will see you at JDDW2023 Kobe, and wish you good health and happiness.

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