Dear Members and Colleagues,

It is my great honor and privilege to serve as the 5th President of the Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Association (APPLE), a worldwide leading academic organization to promote the exchange of international and regional expertise in the study and management of liver cancer.

To begin with, I must thank Prof. Jinsil Seong, former President of APPLE, for her excellent leadership during the very difficult period of the COVID-19 pandemic. As APPLE's most important academic event is the annual in-person scientific conference, it was indeed invaluable to ensure the smooth running of the event during the pandemic with only virtual meetings and e-mail communications.

Also, I would like to congratulate Prof. Jia Fan, Prof. Jian Zhou, and the organizing committee for the great success of the APPLE 2022 congress. I was very impressed with a wonderful combination of in-person meeting and virtual meeting. The discussions were very active.

Since the first APPLE conference in Incheon in 2010, all annual APPLE conferences have been a great success, however, as a scientific association, APPLE is still in a developing stage in terms of finance and governance. The active participation of members from Advisory Board, Executive Committee, and the Council is essential. In addition, the future of our association depends on young generation. Educational programs, including APPLE Academy, can play a great role in disseminating cutting edge knowledges and expert skills in hepatic oncology. Since the great success of APPLE Single Topic Conference 2020 organized by Prof. Ghassan K Abou-Alfa and Prof. Linda L Wong, APPLE expanded to the American Continent and became a truly Asia-Pacific academic society.

I will try my best to make APPLE a leading international academic society for liver cancer. I hope the COVID-19 pandemic will end soon and we can meet face-to-face at the APPLE conference in Seoul in July 2023.

Thank you.