Brief History of the APDO

The Asia Pacific Diabetes Obesity Study group or APDO was founded in 2004 and has met annually every year but one since that time. The brainchild of Professors Masato Kasuga and David James, the APDO concept received enthusiastic support from leading diabetes and obesity researchers throughout the Asia Pacific region. The purpose of APDO is to unite basic scientists in the Asia Pacific region who have an interest in Diabetes and Obesity research to foster relationships and collaborative ventures in this key part of the world.

The concept of APDO was timely in view of the rapid spread of diabetes and obesity throughout many countries in the Asia Pacific region. By sharing knowledge, experience and ideas we hope to reach synergistic outcomes in our common pursuit – to halt and reverse the spread of obesity and diabetes, two of the most crippling conditions facing the developed world. As shown by the network map, APDO has spawned important scientific collaborations between numerous groups throughout AP and this alone indicates the success of this non-for profit venture.

The major forum of APDO is an annual scientific meeting held in different countries throughout the region. APDO was established and reached maturity by virtue of generous support from the Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda. Takeda fully supported our annual meetings for five years during which time the meetings were held at different locations throughout Japan with the exception of the third meeting, which was held just outside Shanghai. APDO then evolved into a more independent entity in 2010 when the first meeting outside Japan was held in Singapore. Since then, annual APDO meetings have been held in Korea and Japan and future meetings are planned for China, Taiwan and Australia. Aside from these countries, each year we welcome delegates from New Zealand and Hong Kong.

APDO has been host to outstanding international speakers including Harvey Lodish, Vamsi Mootha, Domenico Accili, Bernard Thorens, Daniel Zeve, Steve Shoelson, Michael Czech, Noboru Mizushima, Patrick Seale and Randy Seeley. As the problems of diabetes and obesity continue to plague countries throughout the world, there remains a strong justification for organisations such as APDO that have no political nor financial links but exist purely to facilitate basic scientific efforts in the Asia Pacific region in this crucial research endeavor. We welcome new delegates and hope that APDO will inspire many more scientific linkages and collaborations that it already has.

Masato Kasuga and David James (November, 2014)