We are pleased to announce that we will host the 7th World Congress of the International Society for Vascular Behavioural and Cognitive Disorders (VAS-COG World 2015) in collaboration with the 6th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VAS-COG Japan 2015) at Tokyo Fashion Town from Wednesday, September 16 through Saturday, September 19, 2015.

The VasCog Society was established in Madrid, Spain in 2001 and organized the first VAS-COG World Congress (presentation of the results of studies and general assembly) in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2003. The international congress has been held every other year thereafter. In Japan, five years have passed since we organized the first VAS-COG Japan in 2010. As the numbers of participants and abstracts to be presented have been growing year after year, the VAS-COG Japan has kept developing up until today as a society for scientific studies in which a large number of young researchers and clinicians take part. This time around, we succeeded in inviting the 7th VAS-COG World to our country for the first time. It is a great honor for us to be able to host it jointly with the 6th Annual Meeting of VAS-COG Japan.

According to the latest epidemiological research, the number of patients with dementia in Japan has already topped 4.6 million people and the number of those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), i.e., the prior phase of dementia, is estimated at around 4 million people. This means that one out of four people aged 65 years or older suffers either dementia or MCI. While the importance of preventing dementia or inhibiting the progression of the disease is drawing keen attention globally today, given that Japan is one of the world’s most quickly ageing countries, we hope to be able to present the results of Japan’s cutting-edge research activities to the rest of the world and offer a forum, where a great many researchers from both at home and abroad will hold lively discussions.

We would like to close this address by asking for your cooperation and participation to help us make the event a great success.

Ken Nagata

Chairman of VAS-COG World 2015,

Research Institute for Brain and Blood Vessels-Akita

Koji Abe

Co-chairman of VAS-COG World 2015,

Okayama University School of Medicine