I have been the President of the Japan Cornea Society since March 2023. It is a great honor for me to serve as President of the Japan Cornea Society since former Prof. Mitsuru Sawa, then of Chairman of Japan Corneal Society Nihon University, became president of the Society in 1999.
I think it is common in any organization that researchers who are devoted to research and clinical practice form an academic society. The members of the Japan Cornea Society have a wide range of specialties in their research fields, and there are few conflicts among them. Collaborative research is also very active. The foundation of the society is the annual meeting, the Cornea Conference and Corneal Transplantation Society, and the direct interaction among members at this time has built good relationships among them, which is the background for all of this. We will continue to value the direct discussions and interactions at the Cornea Conference and Corneal Transplant Society, which satisfy the intellectual curiosity of the society members and serve as the basis for a cooperative relationship.
Satoshi Yamagami
(Chairman of Japan Corneal Society Nihon University)
One of the things we would like to focus on in the Japan Cornea Society in the future is the promotion of young researchers. The fact that basic research is not as active as it used to be is a problem for Japan as a whole, and unfortunately the same trend can be seen in the field of corneal research. The Japan Cornea Society has been supporting cross-university research led by the senior generation. We have also supported basic research with the cooperation of companies until last year, but this year we decided to discontinue our support for basic research. Therefore, we would like to develop a system to support young people’s basic research. We would also like to introduce the research we are supporting as much as possible on our website as a reference and stimulus to other young researchers. The field of cornea is one of the few areas among all academic fields where products such as regenerative medicine have been introduced into clinical practice. We believe that the society should be involved in the evaluation of whether regenerative medicine, which is attracting attention from other fields as well, is being properly implemented. Another thing we would like to promote is the web-based management of the society. Although the society still uses postal mail for some communications, we would like to abolish membership admission and withdrawal as well as membership voting as much as possible, and change to efficient management on the web.
Although this is a short period of two years, we would like to make every effort to enhance the meaning of existence of the Japan Cornea Society as much as possible with the help of the society members, councilors, and board members. We look forward to your guidance and cooperation in the development of the Japanese Cornea Society.
