With cancer being the leading cause of death in Japan, the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology, the nation’s only and largest multidisciplinary academic society for clinical practices for cancer, is gaining in importance year by year. While technical innovations and new drug developments for cancer treatment in recent years have produced better therapeutic outcomes for cancer patients, various new issues, including medical economics, are emerging.

The 56th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology will discuss these issues with patients and various healthcare professionals with the aim of facilitating the development and evolution of clinical practices for cancer in our country.

Under the main theme of “Cancer treatment with harmony and fusion in the next generation” we will discuss four sub-themes: 1) Verification of precision medicine, 2) Interdisciplinary research for cancer treatment, 3) “Made in Japan” will grow globally, and 4) Explore the future of cancer patients. The congress will help participants think about next-generation cancer treatment by reviewing the advances in clinical practices for cancer and the extent of precision medicine in Japan in recent years. It will look at the present state of cancer research attained through industry-academia-government collaboration and translational research between basic and clinical practices, and also introduce cancer treatments developed in Japan that may become available worldwide. Various healthcare professionals and patients will discuss such cancer treatments.

We are also planning to hold joint sessions with scientific research organizations outside Japan, including ESMO, ASCO, and FACO, with the aim of globalization. At the sessions, we will discuss the topics of “lifestyles and cancer prevention” and “the reality of precision medicine,” and share different viewpoints on cancer treatment among countries through the “multidisciplinary case discussion” session.

Special lectures will be given by Prof. Yusuke Nakamura from the University of Chicago and Prof. Shimon Sakaguchi from Osaka University, both of whom work closely with the university that organizes the congress.

The program committee is preparing to make the congress fruitful, and to attract as many people, both physicians as well as healthcare professionals, as possible.

Bearing in mind that general assemblies of academic societies of clinicians in Japan have attracted comments on their increasing extravagance year by year, I would appreciate your understanding and cooperation to make the congress both insightful and eco-conscious.