Greeting from the president

President of the Japan
Spondyloarthritis Society
Hideto Kameda

From the end of April 2023, I have been appointed as president of JSAS to succeed former president Dr. Masahiro Yamamura. The history of this society started, as stated in “About JSAS”, just before I graduated from medical school. At a time when spondyloarthritis (SpA) and its related diseases (pustulotic arthro-osteitis, SAPHO syndrome, etc.) are attracting increasing attention and new therapeutic drugs are being developed one after another, we would like to take this opportunity to remind ourselves that JSAS has an ever-greater responsibility.

I served as vice president for two terms under former president Dr. Yamamura, and I will continue to work with other board of officers, including vice president Professor Naoto Tamura, the chairperson of Committee of general affairs (Professor Tetsuya Tomita) and the chairperson of Committee of international affairs (Dr. Mitsumasa Kishimoto) to further advance the collaborative system that we have developed so far. We also collaborate with other academic societies in Japan, including the Japan College of Rheumatology, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association, and Japanese Society for Psoriasis Research. Close cooperation with international organizations such as ASAS and GRAPPA is also essential.

Academic meetings and academic journals form the backbone of academic organizations, and therefore, we hope that as many people as possible can participate and enjoy the presentations and discussions in the JSAS annual meetings, and that the results will be submitted as original papers and case reports to the Journal of Japan Spondyloarthritis Society, an official journal of JSAS (Editor-in-Chief: Professor Kiyoshi Matsui). Furthermore, as outreach activities for academic results and the updated information, it is important to publish guidelines/recommendations through the activities of a related Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare research group, and collaborate with patient groups.

To achieve above goals, intensive activities by young members are essential. We encourage researchers and medical professionals from various fields who are interested in SpA to join JSAS and work with us.

Hideto Kameda, Toho University