Address From Prof. Yuko Kitagawa, New IGCA President and 15^th IGCC Congress President

Dear Colleagues,

In June 2023, I began my two-year term as President of the IGCA, succeeding Prof. Paul Mansfield. It is a tremendous honor to take on this role for the IGCA, a distinguished interdisciplinary scientific organization that will celebrate its 30^th anniversary in 2025.

First and foremost, I express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone around the world for supporting the 15^th IGCC held in Yokohama, Japan, from June 14 to 17, 2023. Your tremendous contributions made this event a resounding success. With the participation of over 1,300 individuals from 44 countries, the conference featured 810 insightful presentations. On June 14, we prefaced the IGCC's opening with an International Consensus Conference on esophagogastric junction cancer, an area currently garnering global attention. A total of 49 expert panelists from the fields of endoscopy, surgery, and medical oncology participated, deliberating passionately on 10 clinical questions based on pre-established systematic reviews. The outcomes were published as the world's first International Consensus Guidelines for esophagogastric junction cancer in the official English journal of IGCA, Gastric Cancer.

IGCC 2023 also included a Patient Advocacy Session with the invaluable collaboration of patient groups Debbie's Dream Foundation, My Gut Feeling, and Kibounokai. This session emphasized the importance of re-evaluating the direction of gastric cancer care from the perspective of patients. I look forward to stepping up our efforts in this area.

In this context, I would like to announce the retirement of Dr. Takeshi Sano, who has dedicated many years of service as the IGCA Secretary General. Stepping into this role is Prof. Han-Kwang Yang from Seoul National University. Alongside Prof. Yang, I will strive to bring greater vitality to the IGCA's activities, actively promote the dissemination of scientific knowledge related to gastric cancer, and work towards resolving international disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer. My experiences with the aforementioned International Consensus Conference helped me to better appreciate the utility of forming committees that bring together clinical practitioners and researchers dedicated to important gastric cancer topics with the younger generation of our society. In addition to successfully organizing the IGCC every two years, we will expand the range of our recurring activities. The shift to web conferences, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, is expected to further facilitate convenient and valuable exchanges in these efforts.

I will do my best to further grow the IGCA's rich traditions, and so I sincerely ask all of you to please continue providing your generous support. Thank you.

Prof. Yuko Kitagawa
15^th IGCA President

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