A WARM WELCOME FROM SURABAYA, INDONESIA - VIRTUAL

The history of the formation of APASTB begins with a meeting by Dr. Yongyudh Vajaradul together with Dr. Alain Pate (France) and Dr. Norberto R Agcaoili (Philippines) in Bangkok in 1985. From the results of the meeting, they decided to create an orthopedic surgery group that had a special interest in tissue banking under the name Pan Asiatic Tissue Banking Project. The main objective of this association is to encourage research in the field of tissue banking and promote scientific and social interaction of the respective member countries.

The meeting continues with more participants from Europe and Asia Pacific. Until 27 October 1988 at the third meeting of The World Locomotors Tissue Bank, Prof. Yamamuro of Kyoto, Japan decided to change the name of Pan Asiatic Tissue Banking to the Association of Surgical Tissue Banking (APASTB). Appointed as office bearers was Dr. Yongyudh Vajaradul (Thailand) as President, Dr. Aziz Nather, Dr. Jiun Jer Wu (Taiwan) and Dr. Moritoshi Itoman as first, second and third Vice President respectively. Dr. Sommart Keorochana (Thailand) was also appointed Treasurer. Among the council members were Dr. Sun Shiquan (China) and Dr. R. Oareshott (Australia).

Until now, APASTB has successfully held 17 International Conferences. At the 17th APASTB meeting held in Malaysia, it is an honour for me to have received a mandate from Prof. Ken Urabe (previous president) to become President in the 2018-2020 period. Thank you for the extraordinary dedication from Prof. Ken Urabe and team.

In fact, the 18th APASTB was held in July 2020 with Indonesia as the host. But we know that the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading throughout the world resulting in many events being postponed or cancelled. The 18th APASTB 2020 which was supposed to be held in July 2020 was also postponed. But this time I am proud to announce that the 18th APASTB will be held on March 19-21, 2021 virtually!

We invite to all scientist, clinicians, and student to join in The 18th International Virtual Conference of Asia Pacific Association of Surgical Tissue Bank, SURABAYA, INDONESIA VIRTUAL with theme “Building Bridge in Biomaterial, Tissue Engineering and Cell Therapy”.

I feel very honored to introduce all of this to you - and I am very grateful for the hard work of the members of the APASTB board especially Prof. Dr. Jinyoung Jeong who has helped in managing the APASTB website and colleagues who have encouraged the 18th APASTB meeting virtually.
So please prepare yourself – because soon we will be virtually standing face-to-face!

Heri Suroto