PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the PRCP website. I feel confident you will find information about our organization which will be of interest, no matter what your level of professional development.

At our 2006 congress in Taipei , the Board of Directors created several new membership categories, opening opportunities for all psychiatrists to participate in our important work of increasing international collaboration. Membership applications are available on this website by clicking the “About Us” section. Fees are reasonable and based on the WHO categories of development for your country.

The PRCP's role as an international forum to improve collaboration among the countries of our region occurs via a variety of means, but importantly includes our biennial congress, to be held next in Tokyo on Oct 31-Nov 3, 2008. The congress has been recognized as a WPA co-sponsored congress. For information about the congress, click on the link on this web site or visit http://prcp2008.org/

New areas of emphasis for the PRCP include ongoing follow up from our recently concluded term of Professor Helen Chiu to address the epidemic of suicide in Asia . In addition PRCP has initiated a collaboration with the South Asia Forum and the Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations to initiate a new journal, presently titled the Asian Journal of Psychiatry. This new English language journal will fill an important academic niche for our region, and facilitate information exchange regarding state of the art research, service delivery, and education.

The is an exciting time for our profession and our organization, and I am honored to follow our two immediate past presidents, Professors Helen Chiu and Bruce Singh, both of whom provided outstanding leadership which has transformed our organization.

If I can provide any further information about the PRCP, please contact me via the office of our secretary general, Associate Professor Chee Ng, at info@prcp.org

Allan Tasman, MD
President