The 51st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Welcome Message

Osamu Abe, M.D., Ph.D.
Chair of the 51st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (JSMRM 2023)
Osamu Abe,M.D., Ph.D.
(Radiology, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)

It is my great honor to announce that the 51st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (JSMRM 2023) will be held in a hybrid format from Friday, September 22 to Sunday, September 24, 2023 at Karuizawa Prince Hotel West, Nagano, Japan.

I started my own research career of using the 7-Tesla MRI for imaging animals when I entered my Ph.D. course. It was around the same time when the 7-Tesla MRI was introduced in the labs, and since then, I have been fascinated by the MRI, dedicating the most of my research interests to this area over the years. As such, JSMRM has remained my forum of choice for presenting the results of my research in Japan, and I am both truly honored to serve as the Chair of a meeting for which I have such a deep emotional attachment, and humbled by the weight of the responsibilities that come along with this position.

Japan’s recent decline in the research capacity has become a big issue, with similar concerns perceived in the MRI community.
In addition, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, conference formats have changed rapidly in recent years, and JSMRM is not an exception. However, believing that the face-to-face interactions and knowledge exchanges bring excitements and unexpected benefits for all the participants, young and experienced researchers, we decided to hold this year’s meeting in Karuizawa rather than Tokyo to allow participants to escape from the business of their daily lives and enjoy the beautiful nature in Karuizawa, in addition to the state-of-the art MRI studies and its application.

We are in the middle of finalizing the content for the meeting, and the Program Committee is currently considering how to integrate the positive aspects of the many new initiatives from the past conferences into the program and build on them to make this experience all the more satisfying and fruitful for everyone. Educational lectures and presentations will certainly be available to view on-demand as many times as needed to enhance understanding of details on education and research. We plan to have a highly accessible conference, where participants will feel involved in the experience of viewing posters online as well as onsite. I do, however, extend my recommendation for on-site participation as you are able to grasp details available at a glance.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the companies that support this meeting, the Program Committee, Secretariat, Conference Secretariat and everyone who will be presenting and participating in JSMRM 2023.