The Japanese Society of Medical Oncology (JSMO) was officially established as an academic society in 2004 and has been working on many issues including progress in cancer therapy, especially therapeutic drugs, promoting clinical cancer research, uniform accessibility of cancer care in Japan, and training specialists in drug therapies for cancers. The JSMO annual meeting had been held in Kobe from 2016 to 2018, three years in a row. This is the fourth annual meeting of JSMO at Kobe. Professor Saburo Sone of Tokushima University held an annual meeting of the “Japanese Medical Oncology Group”, the predecessor of JSMO, at Tokushima in 2002. This is the first time that Tokushima University will host an annual meeting of JSMO after its official establishment as an academic society. In the meantime, the number of JSMO members has increased, creating many experts in medical oncology, and achieving various epoch-making clinical studies for cancer therapies, leading to internationalization of JSMO. In fact, more than 6,500 oncologists (medical workers) gathered at JSMO 2023 (in Fukuoka), and more than 570 were foreign participants from all over the world.

In 2018, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published the ^3rd period Basic Plan to Promote Cancer Control Programs, and described “cancer genome medicine” for the first time. This refers to indivisualized targeted therapy of cancers based on omics analysis of the cancer genome. Although cancer multi-gene panel testing was approved in 2019 in Japan, currently less than 10% of the patients who underwent the testing were able to reach the effective targeted therapy. Considering this situation, I set the main theme as “Precision Oncology Toward Practical Value for Patients”. We have to pursue the practical value of precision oncology with multi-omics panel testing for the treatment of cancer patients.

We hope that in the general oral presentations you will present new research results and share the information with many people from around the world. As usual, I also intend to offer a full Advocate Program for patients living with cancer. As for presidential events, I am planning programs attracting the most attention recently including whole genome analysis, liquid biopsy, and artificial intelligence analysis related to cancer therapy.

We hope to see many of you in Kobe in March as Spring begins to arrive. Your kind support is greatly appreciated.