AASPN

Immediate Past President’s Message

Dear colleagues of AASPN,

On Jan 14, 2023, I became the 4th President of ISPN and finished my term on Feb 14 2023 at the 4th congress of AASPN which was held in Yokohama. I have handed over the Medal of President to incoming President Professor Wirginia Maixner with great gratitude to her, our previous Presidents and Officers. Please refer the my (1) President address, (2) remark at the signing ceremony between our Society and ISPN for mutual cooperation, and (3) President remark and Medal Ceremony remark which were delivered at the Gala Dinner.

Thank you for your support you have shown me during the period 2013-2023 I have served as the Secretary and President.

I hope every member in our Society continue to enjoy an academic and personal achievements through active participation.

● President Address, Dec 13 2023 at the Opening Ceremony

Dear colleagues,

It is really my great delight to be with all of you in this face-to-face meeting which could be held at 4 years after last Congress. The COVID-19 pandemic was a dark period of 3 years. Almost all the international transportation and activities were remarkably limited and our Society was in a sleeping mode during the dark night. Fortunately, the pandemic was subsided and we can meet together here in Yokohama. The pandemic reminded us how precious the ordinary life is.

During the period of difficulties, Professor Sakamoto, played an important role as the President. Although not expressed to outside, the restriction of activities gave us a tremendous stress, especially to Professor Sakamoto. I would like to give Professor Sakamoto a big applaud for his efforts he has given us for almost 4 years of hard time.

The educational course was cancelled as well. However, with a great contribution by Professors Maixner and Deopujari with his team, we could have an online course in January this year. I would like to thank them as well.

At the end of the online educational course in January this year, Professor Sakamoto stepped down from his position of President and I succeeded his position. The end of Professor Sakamoto’s term of Presidency is this Congress which was prolonged for 2 years because of pandemic. However, he asked early stepping down to Execute Board (EB). The reason was the duration of his service which he thought too long. EB approved his early stepping down.

Initially the end of my term was AASPN Congress 2025 which will be held in Surabaya, Indonesia. However, it will delay the rotation and refreshment of the leadership in our Society. Therefore, I asked the EB to let me step down at this Congress in Yokohama and it was accepted. I would like to thank EB for the permission. Professor Maixner was elected as the next President.

Again, the Congress in Yokomaha is a meaningful event at the end of the 10 years’ history of our Society. It is our awakening from the dormancy showing our bright future of next ten years. On behalf of our Society, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the hosts of this meeting, Professors Shirane and Morota who made this wonderful prestigious meeting possible. Please join me to give a big hand to these hosts.

Many invited guests including recently past and current ISPN presidents, Professors Boop, Seow and Constantini participate in our meeting sharing their time to be with us. Their presence will promote our level of science and enhance friendship and collaboration beyond our continents. I deeply appreciate them.

During the 3 days of Congress, please enjoy informative scientific talks and warm hospitalities of Japanese colleagues.

Thank you for your attention.

● Remark at the signing ceremony between our Society and ISPN for mutual cooperation

Professor Shlomi Constantini designed this ISPN-centered cooperation network linking 5 continents: Europe, North America, Asian-Australasian area, Latin America and Africa while he was the President-elect of ISPN. With Professor Wan Tew Seow, who was the President at that time, Prof. Constantini pushed the project forward. I would like to thank colleagues of ISPN including Professors Boop, Seow and Constantini for their efforts on this agenda.

Among those, I would like to thank especially Professor Constantini for his special coming to this Congress. As all of us know, his home country is Israel and there are lot of difficulties in travelling abroad this time.

We are expecting closer collaboration through this MoU. For example, more active collaboration in the exchange of faculty members and trainees will be possible for the educational courses. As another example, when a member has passed away, these days, it may take two or three months for those who live in other continents to reach the new information. With this MoU, propagation of information will be facilitated.

I am glad to have closer communication and cooperation among the international and continental societies. AASPN will do its role in this network.

Thank you for your attention.

● President remark at the Gala Dinner

Dear colleagues,

This is a wonderful night.
All of you will agree that this Congress is wonderful. The level of science was high and the running of the conference was smooth. You may have enjoyed the beautiful night scenery of Yokohama harbor. This successful Congress was possible because of the endeavor of Professors Shirane and Morota. They have paid lot of energy, time and even their own money for this conference. By their wide human network, many world-leading scholars gathered together. I really appreciate it.

Professor Shirane, and Professor Morota, please come up to the podium. Please congratulate them and give big applaud.

Thank you for your attention.

● Medal Ceremony remark at the Gala Dinner

Now it is time for me to hand over the Medal of President to our incoming President. Actually I have never received this medal in an official place. However, I have a fortune to hand over this medal to our incoming President, Professor Wirginia Maixner. This medal was made in 2017. At the first Medal Ceremony in Mumbai, outgoing President, Professor Tai-Tong Wong handed over this medal to incoming President, Professor Chandrashekhar Deopujari. Professor Sakamoto received this medal at Incheon in 2019. This is the 3rd Medal Ceremony in our history.

I would like to briefly introduce our incoming President, Professor Wirginia Maixner. She has graduated from the University of Sydney in 1985 and got the M.D. degree. After that, until 1998, she was trained in neurosurgery, epilepsy surgery and pediatric neurosurgery at Australia, Canada and France.

In 1998, she joined the Faculty of University of Melbourne. Until now she has been working as a consultant neurosurgeon at the same university. During the period of from 2001 to 2020, she served as the Director of Department of Neurosurgery at Royal Children’s Hospital.

In the aspect of AASPN, from 2004 to now, she organized and gave lectures at every AAACPN course. In 2013, as the AASPN was founded, she became the Chairperson of the Education Committee. In January this year, as Professor Sakamoto stepped down from his position of President, she was elected as the New President-elect. Today, she starts the term of her position of President.

Professor Wirginia Maixner is a very energetic person and contributed to AASPN so much, especially in the field of education. I expect AASPN may make many great steps forward by her leadership.

Professor Maixner, please come to the podium.