Committee Report
For a successful international congress after twenty-two years’ absence from Japan—ISSHP invitational committee report
2017 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 28-33
Details
2017 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 28-33
The International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy (ISSHP), established in 1976, held its first meeting in 1978, with a biennial world congress for the next 40 years (Table 1). The most recent ISSHP meeting in Japan was in 1998, held successfully in Kobe under co-presidency of professors Kazuo Sato (then of Nihon University, president of the Japan Society for the Study of Toxemia in Pregnancy) and Matsuto Mochizuki (then of Kobe University). In October 2016, Professor Mark Brown (Sydney), President of ISSHP, and the international committee members of ISSHP held a vote that decided that the 2020 ISSHP meeting will be held in Nara, Japan. This report details our efforts for the invitational and bidding process that led to holding the ISSHP meeting in Japan, including the formation of the ISSHP 2020 Organizing Committee to ensure a successful meeting in 2020.
| I | 1978 | Dublin |
| II | 1980 | Cairo |
| III | 1982 | Dallas |
| IV | 1984 | Amsterdam |
| V | 1986 | Nottingham |
| VI | 1988 | Montreal |
| VII | 1990 | Perugia |
| VIII | 1992 | Buenos Aires |
| IX | 1994 | Sydney |
| X | 1996 | Seattle |
| XI | 1998 | Kobe |
| XII | 2000 | Paris |
| XIII | 2002 | Toronto |
| XIV | 2004 | Vienna |
| XV | 2006 | Lisbon |
| XVI | 2008 | Washington DC |
| XVII | 2010 | Melbourne |
| XVIII | 2012 | Geneva |
| XIX | 2014 | New Orleans |
| XX | 2016 | São Paulo |
| XXI | 2018 | Amsterdam |
| XXII | 2020 | Nara |
Since the 1998 meeting in Kobe, Japanese members’ connection with ISSHP members have been kept relatively private. That is, JSSHP has not been an affiliated body of ISSHP since its establishment (not like a relationship of International Federation of Placenta Associations (IFPA) and Japan Placenta Association (JPA)) and has no duty to held ISSHP meetings in Japan except we raise our hands. Additionally, has ISSHP kept its conference rotation to North America—Europe—“the rest of the world,” giving us only a one chance in six years of hosting the conference here in Japan.
In 2009, we published our very first guideline for the management of hypertension in pregnancy, which established how high a priority in this field we in Japan consider this. Dr. Katsuto Eguchi, of Okayama Central Hospital and president of the JSSHP at the time, instructed us to explore the possibility of hosting the ISSHP world congress in Japan in the near future. The initial task force involved Dr. Mineo Yamasaki (Palmore Hospital, Kobe) and Katsuhiko Naruse (Nara Medical University), who both had familiar connections from research abroad with important professors of ISSHP, Marshall Lindheimer (Chicago) and John Davison (Newcastle upon Tyne), respectively.
Between the Melbourne (2010) and Geneva (2012) meetings, Naruse contacted Davison and got a positive response to the idea of holding a second ISSHP meeting in Japan after the Kobe 1998 success—of course, it was because Davison had fond memories of the fantastic hospitality by doctors Sato and Mochizuki. After this report, Dr. Eguchi decided to organize the invitational committee for ISSHP in Japan and start officially the diplomatic contact with international members. During Geneva 2012, we had Japanese members meeting in a Japanese restaurant and talk together for the invitational tactics for upcoming meetings. Afterward, Naruse and his family privately visited Dr. and Mrs. Davison in Newcastle upon Tyne and spent a relaxed moment receiving useful advice for the bidding process.
The first JSSHP night for the invitation of ISSHP in Japan. Geneva, 2012/07/10.
In Geneva, it was decided that the 2016 world congress of the ISSHP would be held in São Paulo, Brazil, hosted by Professor Nelson Sass, a good friend of Naruse for 10 years. His emotional support for us pushed the South American International Committee members of ISSHP to support Japan on the final vote for 2020 later, but Japanese members had one small problem even after the decision ended in its favor. Under the normal rotation, Japan, as a “rest of the world” entity, would normally have to wait until 2022. Given the invitational negotiation, we had to talk about the change in this rotation system, mainly with the European doctors.
In 2013, some members of the JSSHP with the new JSSHP president, Shigeru Saito of Toyama University, were in white night Tromsø, a northern town of Norway for the European Society (ESSHP) meeting. The local host of the meeting was Professor Ganesh Acharya. The 2015 ESSHP meeting would be hosted in Budapest by Professor János Rigó. Both Acharya and Rigó are the good friends of Saito, so these seemed to be good chances to contact some of Europe’s new-generation professors in the field. Fortunately, Saito and Naruse were both invited to the dinner held by editorial board of Pregnancy Hypertension, the official journal of the ISSHP, and Mr. Greyling Peoples, publishing director of Elsevier, Inc., for the journal. It was there that we decided that the place to host the ISSHP in Japan as Nara, an old capital that would be attractive to foreign delegates. So, we promoted Nara to some of the leading figures. Their reactions were positive and we had a fantastic time in Tromsø, but our progress toward securing the bid for Japan as a near-future host of ISSHP remained unclear. We were especially worried that Professor Andreas Tranquilli (Italy), the then-president of ISSHP, did not show much interest in the hosting continent rotation change.
“Pregnancy Hypertension” Journal dinner in ESSHP 2013. Dr. Andreas Tranquilli (second from right) passed away after 7 months later of this photo. Tromsø, Norway, 2013/06/12.
Then, in January 2014, some very sad and surprising news went out to all members of ISSHP: Dr. Tranquilli had suddenly passed away. Dr. Brown, president-elect at the moment, assumed the presidential role immediately, leading a successful meeting of ISSHP in New Orleans. The meeting 2014 ISSHP even contained a musical performance—a “jazz funeral”—in honor of Dr. Tranquilli.
Dr. Brown energetically reformed ISSHP quickly after assuming the presidency. In September of 2014, Dr. Masao Nakabayashi (Aiiku Hospital) organized the 46th International Congress on Pathophysiology of Pregnancy in Tokyo, in combination with the JSSHP annual meeting. We were given a great chance to invite an important person to Japan, including Dr. Brown or Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran (president of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics or FIGO) and enjoyed this great opportunity to promote our society as well. During a council meeting in New Orleans in October, our strong relationship with Dr. Brown moved him to suggest a change of rotation for holding the ISSHP world congress meetings to Europe—“the rest of the world”—North America—“the rest of the world.” This suggestion obtained the committee’s approval, which made it possible for Japan to host the ISSHP meeting in 2020…if we won the vote.
Japanese member in Gala Dinner of ISSHP 2012, with Dr. Shinichi Abe (front left), a well-known legend in ISSHP as the first nephrologist joined into hypertensive pregnancy field in Japan. New Orleans, LA, 2014/10/28.
Our promotion went on during 2015. In September, we invited Dr. Sass, a host of ISSHP 2016 in São Paulo, for our annual meeting of JSSHP under the auspices of Professor Hisanori Minakami (Hokkaido University). After the meeting, Naruse and family, Dr. Sass’s old friend, brought him to Kyoto and Nara to show the potential congress venue for ISSHP 2020. That September, ESSHP was held in Budapest, Hungary, hosted by Dr. Rigó, another good friend and research partner of Dr. Saito. Our strong encouragement for the JSSHP members resulted more papers submitted for the congress from Japan, asserting and reaffirming our commitment to advances, research, and academic activity in the field. In December 2015, Dr. Brown visited Kyoto for a meeting related to the internal medicine field, and our own member, Professor Hirohito Metoki of Tohoku Medical Pharmaceutical University, arranged a presidential visit to Nara after the meeting. Dr. Saito, Dr. Metoki, and Naruse showed Dr. Brown around the Nara city and the prospective venue and delivered another presentation of Japan as the 2020 host to the visiting ISSHP members.
Dr. Sass, host of ISSHP 2016, was invited for JSSHP annual congress 2015 in Sapporo. 2015/09/11.
Gala cruise dinner in ESSHP 2015, with Dr Marijke Faas (right end), a local organizer for ISSHP 2018, and Dr. Mark Brown (second from right), President of ISSHP. Budapest, 2015/09/25.
Dr. Brown visited Nara after the congress in Kyoto. 2015/11/29.
In the beginning of 2016, after the announcement by the ISSHP soliciting applications for candidate hosting countries for the 2020 meeting (calls for bids), we started the construction of our official bid. At first, we contacted with a certain company to design an application, but when it became clear that this would become too costly and cumbersome, we decided to discontinue the connection with that company after only cover design (see later) was completed. We did the rest ourselves.
Great support for us was provided by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). Dr. Saito was elected as a JNTO ambassador for the international congress invitation, so we were given free access to their know-how with respect to successful bid contract construction. Additionally, they created a professional five-minute movie promoting Nara for a very reasonable fee—a movie we will already be previewing in Amsterdam at ISSHP 2018! More great support came from the Nara Visitors Bureau (NVB), a semi-official organization that promotes Nara to visitors and conference organizers. Decisions relating to the congress venue; supporting letters from the Nara Prefectural governor and mayor of Nara city; lists of hotels, restaurants, and other services in the city; and photographs used in the bid presentation were mainly provided by NVB.
The completed bid to host ISSHP 2020 in Nara, Japan, included 52 pages of facts, figures, photos, and emotional supporting letters from professors and other people from all around Japan. We finished before the June 2016 deadline and sent the .pdf file to Professor Louise Kenny (Ireland), a secretary general of ISSHP.
Soon after that, the secretary general circulated the bid papers by candidate country for the vote. The was only one other candidate city—Cork, Ireland, the town in which the secretary general herself resides. No other “rest of the world” 2020 applications arrived at ISSHP office except ours. The vote by International Committee members of the ISSHP using Survey Monkey was done in the middle of August. It is said that Dr. Davison or Dr. Sass helped us for the final decision-making period of the committee members.
On September 14, Dr. Saito received a glad e-mail from Dr. Brown stating that the decision had been made that the ISSHP 2020 would be held in Japan. That e-mail included some additional questions from the executive committee members regarding access to Nara from the airport and capacity of the congress venue. We replied promptly, saying that Nara is not very far from Kansai Airport, and that we could arrange the direct shuttle bus for candidates. As for occupancy, the current congress venue was a weakness of Nara Prefecture, but fortunately, a new Prefectural Convention Center was slated to open in April 2020 and it would provide more than enough capacity (up to 1,200 delegates). Following our reply, Dr. Brown approved our plan to host ISSHP 2020 in Nara.
ISSHP 2016 was held in São Paulo on October, and at the business meeting, it was announced to the public that ISSHP 2020 will be held in Nara, Japan. Because of the distance, not so many Japanese guests visited Brazil, but 12 or more Japanese colleagues did visit there and celebrated our success together. After the congress, Naruse privately visited Dr. and Drs. Sass and stayed a few days to express all gratitude for his fruitful support for Japan.
Japanese dinner including young investigators in ISSHP 2016, cerebrating our success for 2020. São Paulo, 2016/10/23.
The Invitation Committee jobs are ending, with almost all members transitioning to Organizing Committee members. Unlike our bid, our organizing work will have to be supported by professional services, so we have started negotiations with several convention companies with whom we might work over the next important few years. Of course, sponsorship search must be started soon. During ISSHP 2020, some joint sessions with the Japanese Society of Hypertension (JSH) or the Japan Society of Obstetric Medicine (JSOM) will be held, boosting the number of papers and delegates, so we will have to contact each society and introduce them to ISSHP and its members.
Our most important task right now is to encourage as many members as we can to go to ISSHP 2018 Amsterdam. There are direct flights from Japan to the Netherlands, and Amsterdam is a wonderful place to visit. We hope many Japanese participants will join the meeting and advertise our society, make good friendships, and present our data and experiences to the world. This raise the profile of our society, not only in Japan, but also worldwide.
See you all at ISSHP 2020, in Nara!
Shigeru Saito (President of JSSHP, Toyama University)
Atsuko Murashima (ISOM / JSOM, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo)
Tomoyuki Fujii (President of JSOG, University of Tokyo)
Nobuya Unno (President of JSPNM, Kitasato University, Sagamihara)
Hisanori Minakami (Hokkaido University)
Hiroyuki Seki (Saitama Medical University)
Hidetaka Katabuchi (Kumamoto University)
Yutaka Imai (Tohoku University, Sendai)
Tadashi Kimura (Osaka University)
Hiromichi Suzuki (Musashino Tokushukai Hospital, Saitama)
Atsuhiro Ichihara (Tokyo Women’s Medical University)
Kenjiro Takagi (Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center)
Satoru Takeda (Juntendo University, Tokyo)
Mineo Yamasaki (Palmore Hospital, Kobe)
Hideto Yamada (Kobe University)
Jun Yoshimatsu (National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Osaka)
Kazushi Watanabe (Secretary General of JSSHP, Aichi Medical University)
Katsuhiko Naruse (Vice Secretary General of JSSHP, Nara Medical University)
Keiichi Matsubara (Vice Secretary General of JSSHP, Ehime University)
Keizo Kanasaki (Kanazawa Medical University)
Shintaro Makino (Juntendo University, Tokyo)
Hirohito Metoki (Tohoku University, Sendai)
*Advisory*Kazuo Sato (Past President of JSSHP)
Matsuto Mochizuki (Past Chairman, ISSHP 1998 Kobe)
Katsuto Eguchi (Past President of JSSHP)
Masao Nakabayashi (Aiiku Hospital, Tokyo)
International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy 2020 Nara
