President Greetings

President of the 50th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance Medicine (JSMRM 2022)
Shinji Naganawa, M.D., Ph.D
(Department of Radiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine)

　We are pleased to announce that the 50th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance Medicine (JSMRM 2022) will be held in a hybrid format from September 9 (Friday) to September 11 (Sunday), 2022. The venue is Nagoya Congress Center.

　Considering that this is the 50th anniversary of the conference, the theme of the conference is MR unlimited; Towards 100. In this MR unlimited: Towards 100, we have not yet used up all of MR's unlimited potential, so let's try to use 100% of it! And let's aim for 100 conventions! This is what we have put into the event. Although this is the 50th anniversary of the conference, it is not the 50-years anniversary of the Japanese Society of Magnetic Resonance Medicine, since the conference was held twice a year, in spring and fall, when the society was first founded. For this year's conference, I am working diligently with Yasuo Takehara and Toshiaki Taoka, the vice presidents, to prepare for the conference so that we can provide a forum for constructive discussions for a conference that is solely future-oriented rather than looking back to the past.

　The way academic societies are organized has been greatly affected by the pandemic of new coronavirus infections. We will make several attempts to explore new forms of academic conferences while enjoying the convenience of online and on-demand services in the post-coronavirus era. Since this is a hybrid meeting, much of the content will also be available online or on-demand.

Major changes of note are listed below.

(1) Educational lectures on demand and Meet the Teacher project

All educational lectures, which were previously held in parallel during the morning hours, will now be available on demand. Participants will be able to watch the lectures even before the conference starts so that they can understand the content and ask more in-depth questions at the venue as part of the "Meet the Teacher" project.

(2) Powerpitch

This is also done at ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance Medical Sciences), where a series of short presentations of about 3 minutes are given. After the series of presentations in the session is over, the speaker and the audience can engage in a question-and-answer session in front of several large monitors placed near the venue, allowing for more in-depth discussion than in conventional oral presentations.

(3) Premium lecture on demand

This is an on-demand video of lectures by prominent researchers that will be made available to registered attendees during the on-demand period of the conference.

　In addition, a variety of other special programs will be prepared for the 50th Anniversary Congress, including special lectures, special symposiums, special panel discussions, and other events to be presented to the next generation. We are currently working with the members of the Program Committee to prepare a well-balanced program of basic, technical, and clinical topics that will surely be enjoyed by any participants.

　The ISMRM Japan chapter meeting (JPC) will also be held at the same venue. It is our hope that this meeting will contribute to the promotion of exchange between the JSMRM and the JPC. We are looking forward to seeing you at the conference, where we have prepared a number of new initiatives in anticipation of the post-corona era. I look forward to meeting as many of you there as possible if possible.

　Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the companies that support the conference, the program committee, the conference secretariat, the conference office, and the administrative office.

Good day, March 2022

Vice President Greetings

Co-Chair, JSMRM 2022
Yasuo Takehara, M.D., DMSc.
(Department of Fundamental Development for Advanced Low Invasive Diagnostic Imaging Nagoya University, Graduate School of Medicine)

　It is a great honor and pleasure for us to host the 50th commemorative Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

　MRI started to be used in clinical practice right around the time I started my career in medicine. Since then, MRI has attracted many interdisciplinary researchers with the flavor and color of the harmony of engineering, physics, chemistry, and many other fields. The colleagues from various professions have participated and contributed to its progress as we see today. Many innovations have been born in the process, and undoubtedly, they have significantly contributed to the advancement of medicine and the improvement of human health.

　I believe that the unique appeal of MR medicine lies in its ability to use not only morphological, physiological, and chemical information but also a wide variety of physical information in the form of images. Indeed, I have been moved and enchanted each time I have witnessed the moment when the diffusion and flow of water molecules are depicted on MRI, or tissue stiffness and temperature are translated into MRI. I believe that progress will never stop in the future of MRI.

　I hope that many young investigators and colleagues from various medical professions will take advantage of this conference to further advance MR medicine. See you in Nagoya!

March 2022

Vice President Greetings

Co-Chair and Secretary General, JSMRM 2022
Toshiaki Taoka, M.D., Ph.D
(Department of Innovative Biomedical Visualization(iBMV)
Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University)

　We are pleased to announce that the memorable 50th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Magnetic Resonance Medicine will be held in Nagoya from September 9 to 11.

　As this is the 50th convention, we plan to make several new trials. The number of symposiums and other planned sessions is nearly 30, and lectures by outstanding researchers are available as Premium lectures on demand. Educational lectures will be available on-demand in advance of the conference, and “Meet the teacher sessions” will be set up during the conference. For the general sessions, a new presentation format will be established called the PowerPitch session, which will emphasize discussion. The President's Award, which was previously limited to poster presentations, is now available for all formats of oral, PowerPitch, and digital poster presentations. So, we are looking forward to seeing the excellent presentations, with the aim of winning the award.

　The 7th ISMRM Japan Chapter Conference (ISMRM-JPC meeting) will be held during the conference. We hope that this JPC will serve as a place for young researchers to take off to the world. Participants of the Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance Medical Conference will also be admitted to this JPC session.

　Hopefully the corona infection situation will be under control in September. We will continue our preparations to make the conference meaningful both for those who can come to the Nagoya venue and for those who participate via the web. We hope that many of you will join us.

March 2022