I, Kimitoshi Nakamura, have been selected as the new President of the Japanese Society for Inherited Metabolic Diseases (JSIMD). The JSIMD was founded in 1965 as the “Pediatric Metabolism Research Society” and we started to have the congress since it was reorganized as Japanese Society for Inherited Metabolic Diseases in 1984. There were seven presidents, Prof. Teruo Kitagawa, Prof. Keiya Tada, Prof. Yoshikatu Eto, Prof. Fumio Endo, Prof. Hiroyuki Ida, Prof. Toshiyuki Fukao and Prof. Torayuki Okuyama who were committed to development of the society and now I am the eighth. It became the general incorporates association in 2022 and will host International Congress of Inborn Error of Metabolic disorders (ICIEM) in 2025.

JSIMD has been engaged in organizational reform and the development of the society. As a result, it has become a general incorporated association, outsourced the affairs of academic administration, published newsletters, and provided patient registries and special tests. However, there are still many issues to be addressed. Inborn errors of metabolism are rare and intractable diseases and only a few of them have established diagnostics and therapeutic methods and also the cooperation and the support with patient associations are insufficient. In addition, there are few doctors who specialize in Inborn errors of metabolism in Asian countries, and we need a framework to represent Asia led by JSIMD. We must create a strategy for international exchange to look ahead to the future after ICIEM2025

In order to solve these issues, we are going to have 5 future initiatives. We will (1) improve our international presence, (2) develop next-generation leaders and close the gender gap, and (3) build a registry in the treatment of intractable diseases and promote basic and clinical research. The members of the International Society of Internal Errors of Metabolism have requested that we create an organization as a representative academic society in Asia and it required to build a thorough consensus. In addition, it is necessary to create opportunities for the next generation of professors and doctors who are actively performing in academic congresses and seminars in Japan to make a leap overseas. Furthermore, we will (4) share information with related academic societies, research groups, patient family associations and many people involved in diagnosis and treatment and (5) aim to support sustainable medical care for our members and patients.

I, as a president, aim to actively manage the society based on these initiatives. With the aim of further development of the society, we would like to vigorously work on solving all issues as an all-Japan organization. We look forward to your participation in our society activities.