ACOG/JSOG Exchange Report

April 2-5 2009, Kyoto, Japan

I would first like to thank the Japanese Society of OBGYN for inviting us to participate in this exciting meeting. I would also like to thank ACOG and the AFD for providing the support to travel to such a great meeting.

Our hosts were extremely warm and welcoming. We had a terrific time getting the opportunity to meet with physicians from around the globe. Kyoto is also one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and it was a true pleasure to go sightseeing in our time off.

The meeting officially started on April 3^rd (Friday). There was a special session dedicated to the junior fellows on Thursday April 2^nd called the “International Seminar for Junior Fellows”. In preparation for the session, fellows from around the world were divided into working groups. These groups were supervised by Japanese attending physicians. Each group was emailed specific topics of debate to research in advance, so that at the time of the meeting, we could have scholarly debates. The issues ranged from VBAC safety, to tocolysis, to management of medical malpractice. After meeting in our groups and debating the respective issues, we established a group consensus opinion, and presented them to the entire group. It was fascinating to see how much debate and difference there is in the way people practice OB/GYN throughout the world.

Following our meeting we were invited to a dinner hosted by the JSOG. We were able to sit with our debate groups from earlier in the evening and continue our discussions. But it was not all work. We also competed in an international beer tasting trivia. Unfortunately, our group was only able to identify the American beer, which was clearly the worst tasting.

On Friday 3 April, the meeting officially began. Friday was predominantly in English, and was very exciting. The first English session was called “Meet the Expert” and was a series of lectures on various topics, presented by leading physicians in their fields. The lectures were divided into “Perinatology” and “Oncology” with speakers from Europe, Asia, and North America. Following theses sessions were additional international lectures/debates, and a poster session.

Saturday April 4^th and Sunday April 5^th were almost exclusively in Japanese. We were encouraged to try and “enjoy a little sightseeing” in the Kyoto area before we had to go back home.

Kyoto is considered one of the world’s most culturally rich cities and it has been said that “Kyoto ranks with Paris, London and Rome as one of those cities that everyone should see at least once in their lives”.  Kyoto is home to 17 Unesco World Heritage sites, more than 1600 Buddhist temples and over 400 Shintō shrines. I got the feeling that you could spend several weeks in Kyoto, and would still need considerably more time to experience all the wonderful sites. The people are also extremely polite, and helpful. On more than one occasion, standing on the side of the road with map in hand, people quickly volunteered to offer assistance to the confused tourists.

The JSOG/ACOG exchange program was a fantastic opportunity and learning experience and I consider myself very fortunate to have been invited.