Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We are extremely proud to announce that “The 11th Annual Conference of the Japan Primary Care Association (JPCA) is due to take place from May 29 to 31, 2020 in Hiroshima, and delighted to welcome our national and international presenters, delegates from primary healthcare in Japan and across the world. The conference will be chaired by Professor Susumu Tazuma, Director, JA Hiroshima Kouseiren Onomichi General Hospital and Visiting Professor, Hiroshima University Graduate School.

The theme of our conference will be “Primary-care and general medicine: interdisciplinary progress and tradition”. Current suggestions for strengthening the Japan healthcare system consider restructuring primary care into multidisciplinary teams as vital to improving quality and efficiency and considered an alternative to traditional primary care. This change will make the best use of the skills mix of health workforce including family doctors, pediatricians, dentists, primary care nurses, nurse aides, social workers and health administrative staff. Since introducing these interprofessional teams, Japan has seen a continuous improvement in the management of non-communicable diseases. The government now plans to link these multidisciplinary care teams with social services and emergencies, further improving the delivery of person-centered care.

We wish to welcome our eminent keynote speakers: Professor Ichiro Kawachi from Harvard University, Professor Shunichi Fukuhara from Kyoto University and Dr. Hisashi Katayama from Onomichi Medical Association.

A panel discussion with the US Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) will address the topic “Hospitalist between Japan and the United States”. We aim through this forum, with the active delegate participation, to debate the issue related to sharing and improving general medical treatment skills required for primary care and thereby help direct our efforts towards greater impact. The panel will be chaired by the President of SHM from US. His scientific insights will make for a fascinating panel discussion.

It has been our privilege to convene this conference. Our sincere thanks to the conference committee for their dedication and hard work in creating an excellent scientific program.

We welcome you to Hiroshima, the City of Peace and hope that this 2020 Olympic year’s conference will challenge and inspire you, and result in new knowledge, collaborations, and friendships.