AboutAbout the APSR

The late Dr Michiyoshi Harasawa conceived the idea of a new Society in 1982 when he presided over the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Respiratory Society(JRS, established in 1961). He noted there was no world-wide organization devoted solely to the subject of respirology.

The American Thoracic Society and Societas Europaea Pneumologica (now the European Respiratory Society) were both very active in North America and Europe respectively. Many specialists in the Asia-Pacific region had talked about the formation of a similar organization for their area.

In 1984, under the presidency of Dr Hayata, the JRS formed the International Relations Committee (IRC) to facilitate international exchanges in respiratory science worldwide, in particular within the Asia-Pacific region. The IRC consisted of Professor Shiro Kira as the chairman and seven members.

After extensive consultation and discussion with leaders of major international respiratory organizations, the IRC made a final report to advocate a regional academic society in the Asia-Pacific region on their own initiatives.

In late 1984, Dr A J Woolcock expressed her strong support to promote the launch of an independent academic respiratory society in this region and helped us identify leading respiratory scientists within the Asia-Pacific region to be invited in 1985.

In August 1985, the first international meeting in preparation of the launch of this new regional respiratory society was held in Tokyo.

The meeting comprised S Bovornkitti (Thailand), T S de Guia(Philippines), H Mangunnegoro(Indonesia), K Kim (Republic of Korea), K M Moser (USA), J F Murray (USA), T Takishima (Japan), A J Woolcock(Australia); Hosts: M Harasawa, T Takizawa, T Yokoyama, S Kira, Y Fukuchi, P Barron.

The feasibility of inviting national societies in North and South America to join as members of the planned regional societies were discussed but not realized at that time.

In November 1986, the second preparatory meeting was held a day before an IUAT meeting in Singapore.

Drs Harasawa, Takizawa, Takishima, Kira, Fukuchi and Barron attended from Japan. Prof. Barron played an important role to convey the Japanese scheme for the launch of an Asian Respiratory congress.

Dr Harasawa subsequently formed an international steering committee to establish the APSR and became its Founding President in 1986.

The APSR had to settle a very sensitive political issue of finding a rational approach by which mainland China (PRC) could accept Taiwan (ROC) under the same umbrella of national membership.

Drs Kira, Fukuchi and Barron paid multiple visits to Beijing and Taipei in the fall of 1987. Both Drs Luo Wei Ci (Beijing) and Yang Zhe Ming (Taipei) gave their final agreement to refer to Taiwan as “Taipei, China”.

A unanimous decision was made to hold the first APSR Congress in Japan in October 1988.

Dr Harasawa was president; Dr Kira served as Secretary General (SG), and Prof. Barron and Dr Fukuchi were appointed as deputy SGs. The congress turned out to be a great success with more than 600 participants from 19 countries.

It was also decided that the APSR Congress was to be held every two years and hosted by a selected national society within the region.

The name of this new regional society was adopted as the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR), in favour of a tentative name – the Asian Pacific Society of Pulmonology (APSOP). This change owed much to a strong provision offered by Dr Peter T Macklem who represented Canada, deputizing for Dr J C Hogg.

Prof. Barron was firmly convinced that publishing an official journal of the APSR was mandatory to keep the Society more solidly armed with a high scientific standard.

He insisted on the premise that the Society should own the copyright of all published materials to avoid any unexpected abolishment by the publishing company. This was very wise advice in view of considerable income in relation to the copyright for the published articles in Respirology, growing progressively in recent years.

In July 1995 a contract was signed to rent a small 1-room office on the second floor of Asakaze Bldg, opposite Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo. This became home for the APSR Secretariat until moving to a larger office in 2016.

In 1996 the APSR started publishing Respirology as a quarterly official journal, but the financial burden turned out to be more than had been estimated. Prof. Barron suggested making extended abstracts of original papers in Japanese to be purchased by local industries to compensate the deficit of the running cost.

In October 2000, the first World Congress on Lung Health was held in conjunction with the ERS annual meeting in Firenze and the APSR co-sponsored the congress together with ERS, ATS and IUATALD.

This was a memorable occasion for the APSR to earn a status of an authentic regional society in respirology for the first time since the launch in 1986.

There was another regional international organization; the Asian Pacific Congress of Diseases of the Chest (APCDC) which was established under the umbrella of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). Membership consisted of chest physicians, thoracic surgeons, cardiologists and ICU specialists. The congress had been held every two years but had neither a permanent office nor an official journal. Since the first APCDC held in Kyoto in 1969, it had offered an international forum of respiratory science within the Asia-Pacific region.

The APSR wished to avoid any clash or competition with the APCDC, therefore Dr Kira (SG) and secretariat officers including Prof. Barron and Dr Fukuchi, negotiated to find a unified arrangement of academic exchange forum.

After years of discussions between the APSR and ACCP, a final agreement was completed in 2002. It confirmed that the APSR and APCDC would hold a joint congress every other year starting in 2005. The joint congresses were to be held three times, in 2005, 2007 and 2009 at the site of the APSR congress.

To give strength in the running of this new academic society, the JRS decided to adopt en bloc membership with the APSR in 2004 by a majority vote of the Board of Directors (Chaired by Dr Fukuchi).

This new membership helped the APSR extend financial stability which was of vital importance to maintain active academic engagement thereafter.

In 2005-2007, the TSANZ, TSPCCM and PCCP joined the league of en bloc memberships of the APSR.