On the occasion of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Mucosal Immunology (JSMI) which will be held in Fukuoka (ACROS Fukuoka) on Dec. 8 (Sat)-9 (Sun), 2018, I would like to express my deepest appreciation with great honor to all of the JSMI members for providing me an opportunity to serve as the President of the meeting. JSMI has been grown as an academic leading society that provides the opportunity to present and discuss the exciting results in the fields of basic and clinical immunology in the digestive tract. The society has always been playing a leading role in this academic field, beginning with the creation and development of Gastrointestinal Immunology in Japan, because of visionary predecessors including a founding president late Prof. Masaharu Tsuchiya and his colleagues. We would like to take this opportunity to express our respect and appreciation to their vision and leadership.

In this year’s meeting, our mission has aimed to　contribute our global expertise in the fields of Gastrointestinal Immunology and Mucosal Immunology to the further advances of our scientific knowledges for the creation of new strategies to prevent and treat digestive organs’ related inflammation and diseases. To accomplish this goal, we are fortune to have the unique opportunity to co-organize a series of international symposia with two internationally recognized immunological societies, Society of Mucosal Immunology (SMI) and Japanese Society for Immunology (JSI) sharing the common scientific and academic mission of basic and clinical immunological science for the better health. Under the themes of “Innate and epithelial barrier” and “Novel Basic and clinical findings in IBD research”, the latest findings and knowledge will be presented and discussed during the meeting.

Histologically the joint scientific venture with SMI was originally built by the other former　visionary President, Prof. Toshifumi Hibi, and this occasion will definitely be an opportunity to revitalize the beneficial relationship and future development of the academic and scientific cooperation with SMI. In addition, on the first day (December 10th) of the 47th Annual Meeting of the JSI (President, Prof. Kazuhiko Yamamoto: December 10-12, Fukuoka International Conference Center), we are fortunate to co-organize a series of international symposia in full collaboration with JSI and SMI. Our members will be automatically able to participate in the international symposium scheduled on Dec. 10th, the first day of JSI Annual Meeting and we hope you will contribute your expertise and knowledge in the fields of Gastrointestinal Immunology and Mucosal Immunology to the three societies-organized international symposia. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to both SMI and JSI for this full understanding and cooperation for creating the unique triangular scientific platform.

At the 55th annual JSMI meeting, we are able to plan and organize the internationally exciting and fruitful program jointly with SMI and JSI, because of the leadership provided by the current JSMI President, Prof. Mamoru Watanabe and support provided by the rest of JSMI board members and most importantly all of the JSMI members.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you in Fukuoka in coming December.

President of The 55th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Mucosal Immunology
Hiroshi Kiyono
University of California San Diego,
Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine,
The institute of Medical Science The University of Tokyo