My name is Hideki Tanzawa. I am the Professor of the Department of Oral Science, Graduate School of Medicine at Chiba University. I am very glad to have an opportunity to tell you my greeting as the President of the Japanese Stomatological Society (JSS). After graduated from School of Medicine at Chiba University, I entered School of Dentistry at Tokyo Medical and Dental University to help difficult patients who need the application of both medical and dental practices to be healed. Then, I mastered advanced skills for basic research, and was conferred PhD from Graduate School of Medicine at Chiba University. My career made me realize the significance of research mind in the practice of medicine. So I have attempted to solve various problems occurred in oral region by the diverse approaches. To move things forward, I assumed the post of the President of JSS in May 2014, since then, I have been working, as one of the leaders of oral science, not only for the JSS but also for public interest.

JSS has a long, and distinguished history. It originated from the scientific research meeting held in the Department of Dentistry, School of Medicine at Tokyo University in 1913. Various topics about dentistry and oral medicine were friendly discussed there. Afterward it was officially entitled "Japanese Dental Stomatological Society" in 1918. The first edition of the official society journal was published next year. Unfortunately, the activity was temporarily interrupted by the World War II, however, it resumed the action shortly after the end of the war, in 1946. In 1947, the title of the society was renamed to the present one and the 1st annual meeting of JSS was held. The JSS developed steadily and was registered as a specified non-profit corporation (NPO) in 2004. Thanks to positive cooperation provided by many universities, we have grown to one of the highly evaluated academic societies in Japan now.

The aim of JSS is to support health of all the nations through promoting excellent basic and clinical research in the field of oral science. For the aim, we think that the most important is to nurture young talented human resources and let them become the specialist who can understand the meaning of various events occurred in the oral region from the high level point of view. Thus, we have been making a great effort to approach our goal in a positive manner. We hold an annual general meeting and regional meetings in 6 divisions. Moreover, we have two official journals, "Oral Science International (English version)" and "The Japanese Journal of Stomatology (Japanese version)", which are routinely published twice and 4 times a year, respectively.

JSS is a branch society of the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences. JSS is supported by over 3,800 specialists in the oral science, such as researchers, educators and clinicians. Most of the members are doctor of dental surgeon (D.S.S.) but we also have medical doctors (M.D.) and Ph.D. in the member list. JSS had played a major role as the leading academic society in the field of dentistry in Japan until the Japanese Association for Dental Science was established in 1949 following organization of its branch societies in 1960. JSS is a unique academic society because we open the door to various specialties and we always consider a multidisciplinary approach to be a first priority. So, in the spring of 2013, the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences (JAMS) and the Japanese Association for Dental Science (JADS) and many academic societies thankfully offered their congratulations to our memorial ceremony for centenary of founding. I wish to express my deep gratitude to all who have supported us.

The innovation of medicine is accelerating. Endoscopic surgery, organ transplants, genomics, robotics in surgical procedures, preventative medicine, and regenerative medicine are good samples. To develop these innovative technologies in oral science, we should not insist on our expertise but promote a joint or borderless research across the specialties. The JSS will put a high priority on a diverse approach from now on and will support wide variety of studies including medical science, engineering, and physical science, in addition to oral science.

Unfortunately, some dishonest researches were found out in the basic and clinical science recently. So we have been losing a confidence of science in Japan. This should be a serious academic issue. Thus, I believe that a support for "ethics in medical science" is the important role of academic society. We, scientists engaged in medicine, must re-consider our principle and go back to the starting point. It is really simple, that is to say, "all we have to do is for patients". Since we are close to patients every day, we are the only one that can understand their pain, agony, distress and anxiety. That leads us to work earnestly as a researcher or clinician, and this should be our original mission.

Now, JSS is on the starting point for the next century after a long and glorious history. Facing up to the situation, I am willing to devote my enthusiasm to healthy happy lives of all the nations through promoting JSS activity. I shall be blessed if you lead me to the right way.

I very much appreciate your cooperation.