I am pleased to announce that the 117th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics (JSMP) will be held from Thursday, April 11, to Sunday, April 14, 2019, at PACIFICO Yokohama. This four-day event will be held as a joint congress (JRC2019) in conjunction with the 78th Annual Meeting of the Japan Radiological Society (JRS), the 75th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology (JSRT), and the International Technical Exhibition of Medical Imaging (ITEM).
The main theme of JRC2019 is “Innovative Radiology close to the patients.” We will look over again whether the new radiological findings and technologies reported in scientific meetings and papers are being fully deployed for benefits of patients in clinical practice.
The meeting program will cover the wide range of medical physics from basic research to clinical application related to the advanced patient diagnosis, therapy and radiation protection. Also planned are lectures on the leading edge of research, given by distinguished medical physicists from Japan and abroad. One of our joint symposiums is “Innovative Radiology with Artificial Intelligence.” While future prospects for AI vary widely from person to person, researchers pioneering in this field will speak the latest trends.
It is clear that data science, such as AI, big data, radiomics and bioinformatics, will come to play an important role in the diagnostic imaging and the radiation oncology. At that time, the role of medical physics will also change. We hope that our young colleagues will take up the challenges posed in this field.
Meanwhile, new findings such as the reality of real-time images taken with MRI-mounted radiotherapy device and the heterogeneous structure of tumors shown by radiomics suggest that radiological approaches of biological dose painting, theranostics and adaptive radiotherapy will become more realistic choices of highly accurate radiotherapy individualized into patient condition. The executive committee plans to offer educational lectures and sessions to deepen your knowledge in these research fields.
At ITEM, held in conjunction with the scientific meetings, the most advanced medical devices from numerous corporations around the world will be exhibited. This is very good chance for you to watch global technological trends and refresh your knowledge.
We look forward to welcoming you to JSMP117 meeting to discuss perspectives and issues in medical physics.
Shinichi Minohara, PhD
President of the 117th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics