Message from the President of SHSR & 3rd IMHRS

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Society for Hair Science Research (SHSR), I thank you for your participation in the Third Intercontinental Meeting of Hair Research Societies (3rd IMHRS) in Tokyo. It is a great honor for our Society to welcome colleagues from all over the world including America, Europe, Australasia and Asia. I would also like to thank all of those who have submitted the more than 170 abstracts for this meeting. This, the largest triennial gathering of hair societies and the first of the new millennium, provides a unique opportunity for scientists and clinicians interested in hair biology and disorders to exchange knowledge, compare experiences and build friendships. We hope that the varied scientific and social activities planned for the meeting will increase the mutual understanding and communication of the participants.

We have invited two speakers to be the keynote lecturers, namely Dr. M.J. McPhaul and Dr. I. Satokata. Their talk will surely give us some clues and insights into hair research. The scientific organizing committee, with Dr. S. Takayasu as the chair, has prepared four workshops for the different fields and two luncheon seminars on androgenetic alopecia. The workshops will provide you with updated information on the hair cycle, stem cells and morphological and molecular biological approaches. The submitted general papers were subdivided into the categories of plenary, concurrent and poster presentations according to the scores they received from the ten reviewers. To encourage the participation of promising young scientists, travel awards were set aside for twelve people. Twenty minutes will be allowed for each oral presentation in order to encourage discussion, and posters will be exhibited throughout the meeting in order to provide enough time for reading and discussion. During the meeting, referees will score both the oral and poster presentations, while selected papers from the plenary, concurrent and poster sessions will be awarded and published later in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings. In addition to the scientific presentations, we have planned a social program on the second day that will take you to a stroll at a traditional street near Senso-ji. With Tokyo being one of the most exciting cities in the world, I hope that you will take advantage of the many activities the city and surrounding areas can offer.

Finally, we would like to express our special thanks for the financial support from the North American Hair Research Society, the European Hair Research Society, the Australasian Hair and Wool Research Society and numerous domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies.

Welcome to Tokyo, and enjoy yourself !

OGAWA Hideoki, MD, PhD
President, SHSR & 3rd IMHRS