I am Shingo Kasahara, and I have been appointed as the third Professor of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Our Department of Cardiovascular Surgery became independent from the Second Department of Surgery in 1991 (Heisei 3), when Professor Yoshiaki Furumoto was appointed as the first Professor. In 1993 (Heisei 5), Professor Shunji Sano became the second Professor and led the department for 24 long years.

It has been 18 years since I joined Okayama University. During this time, I had the valuable experience of studying abroad in Australia and New Zealand for about 5 years, where I was able to practice team medicine with pediatric cardiologists, anesthesiologists, neonatologists, nurses, and paramedics. This experience, along with extensive surgical experience, has become a precious asset. After returning to our department in April 2005, I worked with my predecessor Professor Sano (currently Professor of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco) to treat more than 140 cases of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, with more than 30% of all annual cases being neonatal cases, and performed 30-40 Fontan procedures annually for functional repair of univentricular hearts. These are areas in which Okayama University particularly excels.

On the other hand, as treatment outcomes for pediatric congenital heart disease have improved, the proportion of patients reaching adulthood has increased. This has led to a rapid increase in the number of adult congenital heart disease patients and an aging patient population, making it difficult to maintain the previous clinical care system. Therefore, the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center was established for the first time at a national university. Adult congenital heart disease involves not only problems directly related to cardiac function and medical issues affecting systemic organs, but also a wide variety of issues including employment, marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and social security. Not only cardiology, pediatrics, and cardiovascular surgery, but also hepatology, nephrology, dentistry, psychiatry, and nursing actively come together to hold case conferences once a month. Through these meetings, patients can receive surgical treatment at the appropriate time, and post-operative outpatient care has been enhanced.

Okayama University Cardiovascular Surgery has 22 affiliated institutions nationwide, most of which are adult heart disease and vascular surgery facilities. To integrate these institutions, we have established the Okayama University Hospital Group Cardiovascular Surgery Specialist Program Committee. This committee focuses on visualizing fair and equitable human resource development, not only in pediatric but also in adult cardiovascular surgery and vascular surgery. By utilizing this committee to achieve comprehensive training of young surgeons, we aim to further expand our department and build a foundation to compete with other institutions in the next 3 to 5 years. We also plan to work together with our colleagues to construct an appropriate adult cardiovascular surgery education program in anticipation of the new specialist system.

Finally, regarding the management of our department, I believe it is difficult for the chairman to do everything alone. With the support of staff who excel in clinical practice, education, and research, we would like to operate as a united team and participate as one research department of Okayama University.